Benito Juárez

Born to a poor Zapotec family in Oaxaca and orphaned young, Juárez worked as a domestic servant at twelve before his employer sponsored his education - first in a seminary, then in law. He practiced as a judge, married into a distinguished Oaxacan family, and rose to governor before joining the national cabinet as Minister of Justice, where he helped pass constitutional reforms known as La Reforma. When the Liberal president resigned during the Reform War in 1858, Juárez succeeded him as head of the Supreme Court and led the Liberals to victory after three years of fighting. Almost immediately, a French invasion aimed to replace the republic with a monarchy; Juárez fled north and governed in exile while Conservative collaborators joined the French-backed Second Mexican Empire, which finally fell in 1867. He returned to Mexico City and continued as president amid growing accusations of autocracy, facing a rebellion from fellow Liberal Porfirio Díaz over his 1871 reelection bid, until a heart attack killed him in office the next year.