Career soldiers tended to be Conservative, but they had little political capacity and squabbled interminably over the presidency. Their weakness within Mexico led them to seek international alliances. Hence, in the Mon-Almonte Treaty with Spain the Conservative government agreed to pay indemnity for damages Spain had suffered following Independence. Facing a virtually bankrupt treasury, however, the Liberals also were forced to look abroad for assistance, signing the McLane-Ocampo Treaty with the United States on December 14, 1859. Although the Liberals were unwilling to cede any more territory to the United States, they did agree to grant U.S. railroads transit rights across the Tehuantepec Isthmus and from the Rio Grande and southern Arizona to the Gulf of California. Other overgenerous concessions were granted in the McLane-Ocampo Treaty, but the U.S. Senate rejected the treaty as insufficient (to the great relief of Juárez, who had come under criticism when word of the negotiations leaked to the public). The difficult financial situation of both sides also forced them to make illegal expropriations and obtain loans at high cost, such as Miramón's confiscation of money from the British Legation and the Jecker loan, which was to increase French demands.
The Conservatives were defeated in Calpulapan on December 22, 1860. Miramón fled abroad, and his forces threw themselves into a guerrilla war. Supported by the United States, Juárez sought recognition; he was elected president in June 1861, although not without a struggle with various eminent Liberals. His government was faced with serious problems; in the middle of a conflict with Congress over the desperate financial situation, he decreed the suspension of public debt.
