As a consequence of his land reform structure, he inadvertently created an elite class of powerful coffee barons.

The barons eventually overthrew one of his later successors, José María Alfaro Zamora.

From 1850 to 1854 he was Magistrate and President of the Supreme Court of Justice of Costa Rica; he died shortly after he resigned.

He attended his primary school in San José and studied Latin grammar and philosophy in León, Nicaragua.

He became secretary at the city hall at San José, participated actively for the struggle of independence, joined the Junta Superior Gebernativa between 1821 and 1824.