He was foreign minister and a member of the peace party whom under the presidency of José Joaquín de Herrera sought to avoid a war with the United States at a time of rising tensions.

Upon finishing his primary education he entered the Tridentine Seminary and received high marks and various awards from the departments of grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and civil and canonical jurisprudence, winning a scholarship along with Manuel Posada y Garduño, the future archbishop of Mexico.

[3] He was admitted to the bar on 16 December 1811 during the Mexican War of Independence, and two years later was named attorney general for the Mexico City Ayuntamiento, a task that he carried out with such notability for the royal government that in 1820 he was awarded with a seat on the Audencia of Quito, but Peña y Peña wished to stay in New Spain and appealed to be granted a seat in one of the Novo-Hispanic Audencias.

In this post his sought to counter the tendencies of the federalists who were backed by part of the military and counted upon considerable public support.

He repaired to Toluca and then to Querétaro where he assumed the office of provisional president on September with Luis de la Rosa heading all four portfolios.

[8] He published a manifesto on 13 October 1847, explaining that in spite of his poor health and lack of forces, he was fulfilling a duty prescribed by the constitution, and he assured that he would only be in power shortly, and expounded his principles and sentiments and the conduct he planned to pursue to conclude his presidency with honor and a satisfied conscience.

Luis de La Rosa holding the dual portfolios of Finance and Relations also made efforts to arrange a session of congress.

The legislature of San Luis Potosí proposed to stop recognizing the federal government at Querétaro over disagreements regarding its peace efforts.

Minister Luis de la Rosa announced to the state governors that the treaty would be submitted for the approval of congress, and that while the deputies gathered there would be an armistice.

He explained that he did not view this stance as dishonorable as even the strongest and most militarist nations had to face the reality that there were wars which they could not win.

He expressed belief that Mexico simply did not have the ability to continue the war, and proclaimed that anyone who viewed such a stance as dishonorable was not worthy of being called honest.

Meanwhile, most notably in the Federal District there was a Mexican element advocating annexation of the entire country to the United States.

On 26 May 1848 the government received the comiisioners Nathan Clifford and Ambrose Hundley Sevier who were in Mexico to negotiate the treaty after congress had approved it with some slight modifications.

His funeral was a major public event and he lay in state for three days, in the halls where the Supreme Court met.