The nationalisation of clerical properties
In 1859 Benito Juárez transferred his government to Veracruz, There, on 12 July 1859, he published his decree on the nationalisiation of the properties of the Church, which complemented Miguel Lerdo de Tejada's previous law on the confiscation of the assets of the Church, but with an important change: the goods no longer passed into the hands of the rentiers, but to the state . The next day he issued regulations for enacting this decree.
Article 11 of the regulations states “All the capital recognized in favour of the secular and regular clergy, whether they come from impositions made before the law of 25 June 1856, or from the awards, conventional sales or auctions that have been entered into by virtue of it up to the date of the publication of this law, may be redeemed by the current census takers in this way: three-fifths in securities or credits of the national debt, whatever their origin and denomination, and two-fifths in cash, payable in monthly instalments and in equal parts, for forty months, counted from the date on which the redemption contract is made” while article 13 states “These obligations shall be to the bearer and shall retain the same mortgage of the capital to be redeemed, this circumstance being recorded in the document, and the respective deed being noted, which shall not be cancelled until it is recorded that the obligation has been fulfilled in all its parts before the head of the respective tax office. who will then issue the corresponding order for cancellation.”
This printed security has the legend “El día … pagaré al portador por la presente la cantidad de … correspondiente a la … mesada de las … con que debo amortizar la suma de … importe de las dos quintas partes del capital de … que reconocía en … y que ha redimido con arreglo al decreto reglamentario de 13 de Julio de 1859, quedando especialmente obligado al pago con la misma hipoteca del capital redimido, según el artículo 13 del referido decreto (On the date... I will hereby pay to the bearer the amount of ... corresponding to the ... allowance of the ... with which I must amortize the sum of ...the amount of two-fifths of the capital of ... which is acknowledged in ... and which has been redeemed in accordance with the regulatory decree of 13 July 1859, being especially obliged to pay with the same mortgage of the redeemed capital, according to article 13 of the aforementioned decree).
This particular bond, for $85.56, was issued on 8 March 1863 and redeemed on 8 September 1864.