Andrés Quintana Roo
| Don Andrés Quintana Roo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born |
November 31, 1787 Mérida, Yucatán |
| Died | April 15, 1851 (aged 63) |
Andrés Eligio Quintana Roo (Mérida, Yucatán November 30, 1787 - Mexico city April 15, 1851) was a Mexican liberal politician, lawyer and author. He was husband of Leona Vicario. He was one of the most influential men in the War of Independence and served as a member of the Congress of Chilpancingo. He presided over the Constitutional Assembly, which drafted Mexico's Declaration of Independence in 1813, and served as a Legislator, Senator, and Secretary of State numerous times. He also served as a member of the Supreme Court and as a member of the Gobierno tripartito (Three-parted Government) (December 23–31, 1829), edited and ran the Semanario Patriótico (Patriotic Weekly). The state of Quintana Roo was named after him.
Biography
He was born to don José Matías Quintana and doña María Ana Roo de Quintana. He studied in the Seminario de San Ildefonso de Mérida where he proved his great capacity towards writing; in 1808 he continued his studies in Mexico City in the Real y Pontificia Universidad de Nueva España.
His father established the first printing press which printed the first newspapers on the Yucatán Peninsula. This seemed problematic to the Viceroys of New Spain and he was apprehended and sent to jail.
Quintana Roo completed his studies and graduated as a lawyer, joining the law firm of don Agustín Pomposo Fernández. It was there that he met Leona Vicario, niece of don Agustín, with whom he fell in love. Because don Agustín was pro-crown and Quintana Roo was pro-independence he was the denied Leona's hand in marriage. Despite this, Leona financially supported the independence cause. She was caught in 1813 and locked in the Colegio de Belén, but managed to escape in disguise, fleeing to Tlalpujahua where she married Quintana Roo.[1]
Sanjuanistas
In 1802 Pablo Moreno and José María Velázquez founded a group called the Sanjuanistas with the goal of suppressing native slavery and ending taxes paid to the church and Spanish privileges. Don José Matías Quintana belonged to this group.
Independence
While the Independence war against Spain was going on, Quintana Roo presided over the National Constitutional Assembly of 1813–14 that drafted the (failed) Constitution of Apatzingán and the later Constitutional Congress that drafted the 1824 Constitution. He worked with Carlos María Bustamante in the edition of the newspaper Correo Americano del Sur.
After the Independence
He served as Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs under Emperor Agustín de Iturbide from 1822 to 1823. He also served as a Justice of the Supreme Court (1824–27) and as a federal deputy representing the state of México. He founded the newspaper Semanario Patriótico and also wrote the book Dieciséis de septiembre.
He died on April 15, 1851 in Mexico City.[2] His remains lie next to those of his wife, Leona, in the mausoleum of the Column of Independence in Mexico City.
See also
- Constitutions of Mexico
References
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Andrés Quintana Roo. |
- ↑ (Spanish) Biography of Quintana Roo
- ↑ Russell C. Ewing, Edward Holland Spicer (1966) Six faces of Mexico: history, people, geography, government, economy, literature & art University of Arizona Press, 1966
Bibliography
Hernández González, Manuel. La emigración canaria a América. Page 44. Primera edición, enero de 2007.
RUBIO MAÑÉ, Jorge Ignacio (1987) Andrés Quintana Roo, ilustre insurgente yucateco (1787-1851). México, Fondo de Cultura Económica.
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