Melchor Ocampo, an haife shi a Pateo, Michoacán a cikin 1814.
Ya kammala karatun digiri na farko daga makarantar firamare ta Morelia kuma a matsayin lauya daga Jami'ar Mexico. Yana dan shekara 26, ya yi balaguro zuwa Turai kuma ya dawo ya keɓe kansa ga siyasa. Ya hau kan gwamnatin Michoacán kuma ya shirya wata rundunar soja don tsayayya da Amurkawa a cikin 1848.
An kori shi da Santa Anna, yana zaune a New Orleans inda ya sadu da Benito Juárez. Ya koma Meziko a cikin 1854 a nasarar nasarar Ayutla Plan don ya zama Ministan Harkokin Harkokin Waje.
A cikin 1856, a matsayin Shugaban Majalisa, yana daga cikin kwamitin tsara sabon kundin tsarin mulki. Lokacin da Juárez ya hau kujerar shugaban kasa, ya aiwatar da shi, tare da wasu, Ma'aikatar Dangantaka, sa hannu kan sanannen Yarjejeniyar Mac Lane-Ocampo wacce ta ba Arewacin Amurka izinin wucewa kyauta ta hanyar Isthmus na Tehuantepec don musayar tallafi na kuɗi don dalilin Juarista. Wannan majalisar ba ta taɓa amincewa da ita ba ta Majalisar Wakilan Amurka ba saboda godiya ga wayon Juárez.
Ya yi ritaya zuwa gonarsa Pomoca, inda ƙungiyar masu ra'ayin mazan jiya ƙarƙashin ikon Félix Zuloaga da Leonardo Marquéz suka kama shi. Ba tare da fitina ba, an harbe shi a watan Mayu 1861 kuma an rataye gawarsa daga itace.
