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242 ignacio raMírez Ignacio Ramírez (1818–79), born in Guanajuato, was a writer, poet, journalist, lawyer, and politician. Along with Guillermo Prieto, he founded the newspaper Don Simplicio in 1845. Ramírez ’s pen name was El Nigromante (the necromancer). Early in his life he was imprisoned because of his satirical writings. A formidable orator, Ramírez was elected deputy to the 1856–57 Constituent Congress and became part of the radical wing of the liberal party. Ramírez struggled to end the privileged status of the Catholic Church and the army. He contributed to the drafting of the reform laws, which separated church and state, forced the church to sell its property, secularized public services such as marriage, and established the civil registry. When the conservative faction was temporarily defeated at the end of the Three Years’ War (1857–61), President Benito Juárez (1806–72) appointed Ramírez secretary of justice and public instruction. During his term Ramírez established the National Library and reorganized primary education. Ramírez fought against the imperial armies in the state of Sinaloa during the French intervention and was exiled to the United States. He returned to Mexico before the fall of the empire and was imprisoned . After the fall of Emperor Maximilian, Congress appointed him to the Supreme Court, and he served a long tenure there. We present two of his writings from the Constituent Congress period: the poem “The National Representation” (La representación nacional) (1845) and a speech delivered to the Constituent Congress on July 7, 1856. Also, we present a letter to Guillermo Prieto (“Fidel”) written at the time of the French intervention, between 1863 and 1865. ...

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