Manuel Romero Rubio (Mexico City, March 7, 1828 – Mexico City, October 3, 1895), was a Mexican politician and lawyer who participated in the governments of Benito Juárez, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and Porfirio Díaz.
Education as a lawyer and the beginning of his political career
Manuel Romero Rubio began his education at the Conciliar Seminary in Mexico City, where he acquired knowledge of Latin grammar and philosophy. Later, at the Colegio de San Gregorio he began his studies in law. In there, he was recognized as one of the most distinguished students and became friends with Lerdo de Tejada, among other colleagues who later acquired highly relevant roles in the national political sphere.
At the Colegio de San Gregorio, due to his brilliant participation in the discussions of the Academy of Jurisprudence, Romero Rubio received various offers to occupy positions in the government; however, he did not accept these invitations, preferring to finish his studies.
The Colegio de San Gregorio –considered as a center of independent thought–, underwent government scrutiny and was closed briefly under the return of Santa Anna on October 20, 1853. For this reason, Manuel Romero Rubio and Ignacio Mariscal, among other students, became the main organizers of the Club Político el Águila, which emerged as a protest, and which was joined by several figures who later occupied high positions in Mexican politics.
On January 11, 1854, Romero Rubio obtained his law degree from the Colegio de San Gregorio, and enrolled before the National Association Bar with the financial support of José Urbano Fonseca Martínez.
That same year, he opened his own law firm, which was one of the most prominent in the capital, and attended by figures from various political positions.
Participation in the Plan of Ayutla
In 1854, being 26 years old, Manuel Romero Rubio joined the Plan of Ayutla, aimed at removing conservative, centralist President Santa Anna government and, with Miguel Buenrostro, he held a first meeting with Benito Juárez as the representative of the Liberal clubs in Mexico City.
After the triumph of the Plan of Ayutla, Romero Rubio was appointed magistrate of the first instance in the court of Tulancingo, Hidalgo. Two months later, he declined the position and returned to the capital to serve as secretary of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation and, later, as advisor to Colonel Agustín Alcerreca, governor of the Federal District.
Romero Rubio Constituent and the Reform War
After Santa Anna's resignation in 1855 by the Ayutla Revolution, the Constituent Congress of 1856-1857 was established, where Manuel Romero Rubio – without having proposed a candidacy – was elected alternate deputy by the State of Mexico thanks to his excellent reputation as a magistrate in the Tulancingo court.
As member of the Constituent Congress, his votes in favor of the confiscation of the assets of the clergy, and the dissolution of the Society of Jesus –which had been reestablished in Mexico during the dictatorship of Santa Anna– are specially relevant.
His interventions in the Constituent Congress positioned Romero Rubio as a liberal politician and, in September 1857, he held the position of Secretary of the Interior of the Federal District during the government of Ignacio Comonfort. However, in December 1857 he resigned his position due to the addition of Juan José Baz –Governor of the Federal District– to the Plan of Tacubaya; whose main objective was to reject the Constitution of 1857.
At the end of March 1858, the new conservative government of Félix María Zuloaga apprehended Romero Rubio, Riva Palacio and other liberals who were transferred to the dungeons of the ex-Acordada, from where they corresponded with their allies, to stay informed about the events of the Reform War.
On November 20, 1858, when he was released along with the rest of the ex-Accorda political prisoners, Manuel Romero Rubio was appointed head of the Huastecas forces of the liberal army, and joined the front of General Juan J. de la Garza in Tamaulipas, who named him second in command of his division.
However, Romero Rubio remained at the head of the division when De la Garza was wounded after a confrontation with conservative forces in Corcovada; moment when Manuel Romero Rubio directed his troops to San Luis Potosí, where he met with other liberal leaders and was commissioned to meet with Benito Juárez in Veracruz, with the purpose of convincing him about the great need to speed up the declaration of the Reform laws, whose project had been postponed due to the country's political instability.