José Ignacio Pavón

Pavón was born in Veracruz, where he began his studies. He continued his education in the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, where he studied philosophy and law (cánones y leyes).[1]

He was an honorary city councilman of Mexico City in 1818 and secretary of the censorship committee in 1820. The city government of Mexico City named him juez de hecho (legal expert) on the law of the press in 1822. Although he recognized Agustín de Iturbide as emperor at that time, he was a supporter of the Republican Party.

From 1823 he was a senior officer in the Department of the Treasury. Upon the triumph of the Plan of Casa Mata of Antonio López de Santa Anna, Vicente Guerrero and Nicolás Bravo against Iturbide, in 1824 he became an active participant in politics. The Governing Junta that succeeded Iturbide entrusted him with assembling materials to form a criminal code. In 1825 he became a senior officer in the Department of Foreign Relations. He worked to obtain British recognition of Mexico's independence, and for a commercial treaty. He was also the interim political leader of Tabasco.[1]

He fought in the Mexican Federalist War and was defeated by Antonio Rosillo in the Battle of Alcantra on 3 October 1839.[2][3] He became a member of the Mexican Supreme Court in 1841.[1]

In 1860, he was acting president of the Supreme Court when conservative General Miguel Miramón took Félix María Zuloaga prisoner. Zuloaga escaped and returned to Mexico City, where he asked the Governing Junta to name him president of the country. While the Junta was assembling to debate the issue (it named Miramón president, not Zuloaga), Pavón served as acting president for two days (13–15 August 1860). Afterwards, he returned to the Supreme Court.[1]

In 1863-64, he was a substitute member of the Council of Regency of the Empire, pending the arrival of Maximilian of Habsburg to take the throne. He was removed from this position before Maximilian's arrival on charges that he did not respect the Regency.[1]

He left politics and worked as a lawyer. He died in Mexico City at the age of 74 in 1866.[1]

• List of heads of state of Mexico

• García Puron, Manuel (1984), México y sus gobernantes (in Spanish), 2, Mexico City: Joaquín Porrúa
• Jaques, Tony, ed. (2007), Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A Guide to 8,500 Battles from Antiquity through the Twenty-first Century (3 volumes ed.), Greenwood Publishing Group, p. 5, ISBN 978-0-313-33536-5
• Leatherwood, Art (June 9, 2010), "Alcantra, Battle of", Handbook of Texas Online, The Texas State Historical Association, retrieved August 23, 2014

• "Brief biography". Archived from the original on 2007-01-09.