Juan Bautista Ceballos was a Mexican politician who served in congress and in the supreme court before being briefly made president after the resignation of President Mariano Arista during a revolution known as the Plan of Jalisco in 1853. He failed to come to any sort of arrangements with the insurgents and resigned after only about a month of serving and went back to his seat on the supreme court. After being removed from the court by the restored Santa Anna, he left the country and died in Paris in 1859. Early life Juan B. Ceballos was born in Durango in 1811. His family moved from Durango to Valladolid (Morelia) when he was very young. He received his education there, culminating in a law degree from the College of San Nicolás in 1835. While at the college, he became friends with Melchor Ocampo and Santos Degollado. He would go on to serve in congress during the Mexican American War, and his distinguished service there led him to be elected by the states as president of the Supreme Court in 1852. During his tenure he was known for striking down as unconstitutional a presidential decree restricting the press. As President Mariano Arista lost the adherence of most of the country to the revolutionary Plan of Jalisco, which had first been proclaimed in June, 1852, he decided to resign, which he did so officially on January 5, 1853. That midnight, Juan B. Ceballos was called to the National Palace and let known that the presidency had now passed on to him. Former President Arista left the Palace at half past thirty in the morning, leaving his official resignation with the Minister of Relations Arroyo to be handed over to congress. Presidency Search for compromise Ceballos took the oath of office on January 6, 1853, and proceeded to form a government. General Blanco was made Minister of War, J.A. de la Fuente was made Minister of Relations. Lodron De Guevara was made Minister of Justice, and J.M. Urdiqui was made Minister of Finance. Congress granted Ceballos extraordinary powers for three months conditional upon not changing the form of government or existing treaties nor deciding in ecclesiastical affairs, private property, and privileges of state or federal supreme powers. As the resignation of Arista and installation of Ceballos had been undertaken to find a peaceful compromise with the revolutionists, Ceballos also released political prisoners, issued