[2] In his role as foreign minister, he succeeded Victoriano Huerta as president upon the latter's resignation.

He occupied important positions in the administration of President Porfirio Díaz.

On May 3, 1911, Díaz named him as his representative at the peace conference with constitutionalist rebel Francisco I. Madero.

Carvajal left office on August 13, 1914; Carranza gained de facto control of the executive the following year, despite not being formally elected to the Presidency until 1917.

He returned to Mexico City in 1922 to take up his legal profession again and died there on September 20, 1932.