potism, he was exiled by Santa Anna, when he took up his residence in New Orleans, where he lived for two years in great poverty. On the revolution of Ayutla, in 1855, from which event dates the law of reform, Juarez returned and joined with Alvarez, who commanded the revolutionary forces against Santa Anna. The success of the revolution made Alvarez president, and Juarez became minister of justice and religion. His first move was a bold one—the abolition of the special clerical and military courts, under which these two classes had enjoyed immunity from the general laws. Congress sanctioned the
TOMB OF JUAREZ, IN SAN FERNANDO.
whole, but a change of administration followed, when the new president, Comonfort, fearing the progressive liberalism of Juarez, appointed him governor of his own State.
The promulgation of the Federal Chart in 1857 made a decisive change in the political outlook. In this year Juarez was elevated to the office of justice of the supreme court—a position equivalent to that of vice-president of the United States. In 1858 he became president, but the strength of the reactionary party was such as to cause him to transfer the government from one point to
