Lorenzo de Zavala

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Lorenzo de Zavala : biography

October 3, 1788 – 15 November 1836
  • Lorenzo de Zavala Archives and Library Building, Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin
  • Lorenzo de Zavala Middle School, Irving, Texas
  • Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School, Magnolia Park, Houston"." Lorenzo de Zavala Elementary School (Houston). Retrieved on July 24, 2010.
  • De Zavala Elementary School, Channelview, Texas
  • Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School in Crystal City, Zavala County, Texas
  • De Zavala Elementary School in Midland, Texas. http://www.midlandisd.net/Page/2749
  • De Zavala Middle School, Amarillo, Texas
  • Zavala County, Texas Texas State Historical Association
  • Lorenzo De Zavala Middle School, La Joya ISD, La Joya, Texas
  • De Zavala Rd, a major thoroughfare in San Antonio
  • Lorenzo De Zavala Lodge #1397, Masonic lodge, Houston, Texas

Book about the United States

Zavala’s book Journey to the United States of North America, written in Spanish, was published in France in 1831, but no English translation was published until 1980. It was reprinted in 2005 in paperback as Journey to the United States of North America. It precedes Toqueville’s famous Democracy in America by five years and expresses similar opinions about America and Americans. Zavala writes in his prologue:

However, it should be very useful to Mexicans, for it is to them that I dedicate it. In it they will find a true description of the people whom their legislators have tried to imitate—a people that is hard working, active, reflective, circumspect, religious in the midst of a multiplicity of sects, tolerant, thrifty, free, proud and persevering.

Early life

Manuel Lorenzo Justiniano de Zavala y Sáenz was born on October 6, 1788, in the town of Tecoh, Yucatán, to Anastasio de Zavala y Velázquez and María Bárbara Sáenz. He graduated from the seminary at Mérida in 1807. He founded several newspapers, but his liberal political views led to his imprisonment in Veracruz in 1814.

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.Normand, Pete (1986). The Texas Masons: The The Fraternity of Ancient Free & Accepted Masons in the History of Texas. College Station, Texas: Brazos Valley Masonic Library & Museum Assn. 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 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.

Personal life

In 1807 Zavala married Teresa Correa.