Lucas Alamán was born to a wealthy family of
Guanajuato on October 18, 1792. His father was Juan Vicente Alamán and his mother was Maria Ignacia Escalada. His father had immigrated from
Navarre and accumulated a fortune in mining, while his mother was member of a distinguished American-born Spanish family, and held the title of the fifth marchioness of San Clemente. Alamán's father was his mother's second husband, following the death of her first husband, Brigadier Gabriel de Arechederreta. Alamán had an older sister, María de Luz Estefanuia Anna José Ignacia Alamán y Escalada, born 1782, and an older half-brother, Juan Bautista Arechederreta. He studied at the
amiga, a children's school, run by Dona Josefa Camacho, and continued his studies at the Bethlehem School where Fr. Jose de San Geronimo taught Alamán how to write. In gratitude for the education that was provided, Alamán's father funded a renovation of its building. Alamán moved on to learn Latin and mathematics, and his father began introducing him to the management of the mining industry, a field in which the elder Alamán expected his son to work in one day. In 1808, a sixteen year old Alamán visited Mexico City where he learned French and then returned to Guanajuato where he continued to study mathematics, music, and drawing, while also reading the Latin classics. The Alamán family was wealthy and socially prominent through Alamán's early youth, but mining was an uncertain and volatile industry, and his father eventually suffered financial losses and died when Alamán was sixteen. He studied at the Colegio de Minas in Mexico City, as well as in Freiburg and Göttingen, Germany.
Mexican War of Independence It was at this time that Alamán would witness decisive historical events that would forever change the future of Mexico. In 1808, the Spanish king
Ferdinand VII was deposed by
Napoleon who replaced him with his brother
Joseph Bonaparte, sparking a constitutional crisis throughout the
Spanish Empire, as rejection of the new king was almost universal. The government of
New Spain chose to remain loyal to the imprisoned Ferdinand, but an uprising against the Spanish was triggered by the priest
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla on September 16, 1810, a date which would eventually be commemorated as the
Mexican Independence Day He witnessed the sack of
Guanajuato after the
capture of the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in the early stages of the
Mexican War of Independence during which the unorganized and ragged troops of
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla killed those taking refuge inside. Alamán fled with his family to Mexico City in December 1810. At Mexico City he continued his studies in mining. He studied chemistry, mineralogy, calculus, and crystallography. It was amidst his discussions with the well travelled faculty that he also began to desire to travel to Europe where he wished to perfect his French and learn Italian and English.
Travels through Europe He departed in January 1814 and first arrived at Spain where he visited Madrid and the Royal Palace of the
El Escorial. He then passed on to France where he arrived in Paris and visited
Father Mier on whose recommendation Alamán was able to meet with
Bishop Gregoire. He continued his studies in Paris under
René Just Haüy,
Jean-Baptiste Biot, and
Louis Jacques Thénard, and attended late night sessions of the Atheneum where he also began to learn German. Alamán was present in Paris during Napoleon's return from Elba, during the
Hundred Days, with Alamán leaving the country shortly afterward for a brief sojourn in Great Britain before returning to France. He next traveled to Italy, passing by
Mont Cenis, and arriving in
Turin. He visited the battlefields of
Pavia and
Marengo and headed towards
Milan, passing through
Bologna and
Florence before arriving in Rome where he was present for the Feast day of St. Peter which he spent with the family of the Spanish Cardinal Bardaji.
Delegate to the Cortes He received the news that one of his family's financial interests had failed, and sought to remedy the matter through the application of his studies. He sought to bring to Mexico the technique of
separating silver and gold through the use of
sulfuric acid in contrast to the old technique of using
nitric acid. He traveled to
Madrid and succeeded in gaining permission from the government for doing so. He was the delegate of Mexico in the Cortes and worked to better the mining industry. Alamán arrived back in Mexico in February, 1820. Spain at this time through the
Constitution of 1812 had granted representation to its colonies in the Spanish Cortes and Alamán was among the Mexican deputies sent to Madrid that year representing the province of
Guanajuato. He left for Spain with the rest of the deputies just as
Agustin de Iturbide’s
Plan of Iguala began to gain ground, and which would ultimately gain independence for Mexico in September 1821. Alamán defended the rights of his district's mining interests and amidst ambiguous news regarding the progress of the Plan of Iguala, he also with the rest of the deputies lobbied the Spanish Cortes to establish in New Spain a more independent government. After the legislative session ended, Alamán rejected a post in the Spanish government and returned to Mexico. ==First Mexican Republic==