Pedro Medrano

Pedro Medrano (26 April 1769 – 3 November 1840) was a

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

an-born Argentine statesman and lawyer. He was a representative to the

Congress of Tucumán The Congress of Tucumán was the representative assembly, initially meeting in San Miguel de Tucumán, that declared the independence of the United Provinces of South America (modern-day Argentina, Uruguay, part of Bolivia) on July 9, 1816, fro ...

which on 9 July 1816 declared the Independence of Argentina. Medrano was born in San Fernando de Maldonado in

. He studied in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and at the ''Colegio Montserrat de Córdoba'' and gained his doctorate in law at the

University of Charcas The Royal and Pontifical Higher University of San Francisco Xavier of Chuquisaca ( es, Universidad Mayor, Real y Pontificia de San Francisco Xavier de Chuquisaca; USFX) is a public university in Sucre, Bolivia. It is one of the oldest universiti ...

, becoming known as a brilliant orator. In 1810 he was appointed an ''oidor'' of the Real Audiencia. That same year he participated in the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

at the ''Cabildo Abierto''. He was one of the authors of the 1815 provisional statute of Argentina. He was elected by Buenos Aires to the Tucumán Congress in 1816 for the declaration, serving as the first president of the Congress and giving the inaugural speech. Medrano was secretary of the provincial ''junta'' of representatives in 1821 and a deputy on two occasions. He served as ''fiscal'' (state attorney) from 1838 and president of the Chamber of Appeals. He was a friend and ally of Juan Manuel de Rosas. Medrano, Pedro Medrano, Pedro Members of the Congress of Tucumán 19th-century Argentine lawyers Uruguayan emigrants to Argentina People from Maldonado, Uruguay People of the Argentine War of Independence University of Charcas alumni {{argentina-law-bio-stub