For Mexicans who consider President Benito Juárez a nationalist hero who defended the nation's sovereignty against the French intervention in Mexico, the McLane-Ocampo Treaty gives fuel to Juárez's critics who see him as not being so ideologically pure. Juárez authorized U.S. ships to attack Mexican conservative vessels in 1860, prompting critics' charges that Juárez "condoned foreign intervention and sold out to the United States."D.F. Stevens, "Benito Juárez" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 3. p. 334. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996. In the U.S. the unratified treaty garners little attention from scholars, but in Mexico it is the subject of major studies.Agustín Cue Canovas, Agustín, El tratado McLane-Ocampo: Juárez, los Estados Unidos y Europa. 2nd ed. 1959.Salvador Ysunza Uzeta, Juárez y el tratado McLane-Ocampo. 1964.
