Andrés Eligio Quintana Roo (30 November 1787 – 15 April 1851) was a Mexican liberal politician, lawyer, and author. He was the husband of fellow independence activist Leona Vicario.
Quintana Roo was one of the most influential men in the Mexican War of Independence and served as a member of the Congress of Chilpancingo where he presided over the National Constituent Congress, which drafted the Mexican Declaration of Independence in 1813. He served multiple terms in the Chamber of Deputies, serving as its president twice. Quintana Roo also served as a member of the Mexican Supreme Court. He edited and founded many newspapers including El Ilustrador Americano (The American Illustrator) El Semanario Patriótico Americano (The American Patriot Weekly), and El Federalista Mexicano (The Mexican Federalist). The Mexican state of Quintana Roo was named in his honor.
Early life
Quintana Roo was born to Don José Matías Quintana and Doña María Ana Roo de Quintana, descendants of Canarian settlers who permanently lived in the Yucatán Peninsula. They were married June 20, 1786 in their house in Mérida. His paternal grandparents were Gregorio Quintana from Galicia and Martina Tomasa de Campo from Campeche. On his mother's side his grandparents were Antonio Roo y Font from Tenerife and Leonarda Rodríguez de la Gala, also from Campeche.
Sanjuanistas
In 1805, the elder Quintana became part of a group known as the Sanjuanistas. The group met to discuss social and political issues, in particular the slavery of the indigenous population. The group took their name from their meeting place, the Ermita de San Juan Bautista (Hermitage of Saint John the Baptist) where the group leader, José María Velázquez, was a priest.
In 1808, the Napoleonic Army invaded Spain and overthrew the Bourbon dynasty. In 1810 in Cádiz, Spain — one of the last cities free from the French armies — an assembly (cortes) of the Spanish peninsular and overseas provinces met to discuss the future of the Spanish Empire without a monarch. This was the political climate the Sanjuanistas found themselves in.
In March 1812, the Cortes of Cádiz issued a new Spanish constitution. In July, Miguel González Lastiri, Yucatán's representative at the Cortes, arrived with seven copies of the new constitution, one of which fell into the hands of the Sanjuanistas. Having read the document, they quickly became its promoters and opened their group any who wanted to join. By October, the Sanjuanistas had pressured the hesitant governor of Yucatán, Manuel Artanza y Barrial, to enforce the new constitution.
Still, many were opposed to the changes in the new Spanish constitution. The primary group that formed to oppose the changes and the Sanjuanistas were the Rutineros. Where the Sanjuanistas wanted social change and liberty from the Spanish crown, the Rutineros sought to maintain the social and political order. When the first printing press came to Yucatán in 1813, the two groups confronted each other through newspapers and pamphlets.
In 1814, King Fernando VII was restored to his throne and disavowed the constitution put forth by the Cortes of Cádiz and ruled as an absolute monarch. With the triumph of the conservative forces, the environment quickly turned hostile for the Sanjuanistas and Quintana was arrested and jailed in the fort of San Juan de Ulúa in Veracruz, along with fellow Sanjuanistas Lorenzo de Zavala and José Francisco Bates.
Education
Andres Quintana Roo studied in the Seminario de San Ildefonso de Mérida where he proved his great capacity as a writer. In 1802, at the age of 15, he finished his Latin studies at San Ildefonso. He continued his studies receiving certifications in Arts in 1805 and Theology and Doctrine in 1808. His instructor of the arts, D. Pablo Moreno, said of him that "he had always manifested a judgement and maturity superior to his age."
In December 1808, (only two months after the overthrow of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray by ultra-conservative elements) he arrived in Mexico City to continue his studies at the Real y Pontificia Universidad de Nueva España ("Royal and Pontifical University of New Spain"). With him he took a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of Yucatán and Tabasco, Pedro Agustín Esteves y Ugarte, that said he "always had a singular application and talent, performing his literary functions with all brilliance and contributing with modesty, Christianity and good bearing in his behavior."