Lorenzo de Zavala Politician

Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sáenz (October 3, 1788 – November 15, 1836) was a 19th-century Mexican politician of Spanish descent. He served as finance minister under President Vicente Guerrero. A colonizer and statesman, he was also the interim Vice President of the Republic of Texas, serving under interim President David G. Burnet from March to October 1836.Early lifeManuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sáenz was born on October 3, 1788, in the town of Tecoh, Yucatán, to Anastasio de Zavala y Velázquez and María Bárbara Sáenz. Young Zavala's parents were criollos, Spainards of Basque descent born in the colonies. Zavala was a third-generation Yucatecan. His grandfather, Simon Felipe Antonio de Zavala y Marin, was born in 1725 son after his father, Jose, had moved to the peninsula from Peru. Simon became a notary as a legal representative in Spanish-speaking counteries. Zavala learned to read and write an early age and in his teens became a boarding student in the Seminario Conciliar de San Illdefonso in Merida. It was the only school of higher learning in Yucatan and had been there in existence since 1751. He founded several newspapers, but his liberal political views led to his imprisonment in Veracruz in 1814.He attended the villages school until the age of 15 and was fluent in Spanish, French, English and Latin. He studied medical textbooks while in prison, and was ready to practice medicine upon his release in 1817. In 1820, he was elected to public office, and in 1821 was appointed Deputy to the Spanish Cortes (legislature) in Madrid. In 1824, he was elected as President of the Constitutional Congress and endorsed the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824.He was appointed as senator of Yucatán at the first Constitutional Congress and took office in January 1825. During 1827 and 1828, he was governor of the state of México.In 1828, President Manuel Gómez Pedraza removed Lorenzo de Zavala from the office of governor of the state of México. Zavala, with support from Santa Anna'>Antonio López de Santa Anna, was able to rally most of the military in Mexico City in his favor. Four days of fighting resulted in Zavala's victory and he installed Vicente Guerrero as the new president.