Ignacio López Rayón

Ignacio López Rayón (July 31, 1773 in Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, New Spain – February 2, 1832 in Mexico City) led the revolutionary government of his country after Miguel Hidalgo's death, during the first years of the Mexican War of Independence.

López Rayón was born in Michoacán, the first son of Andrés Mariano López-Rayón Piña (1742-1805) and María Josefa Rafaela López-Aguado y López-Bolaños (1754-1822). He went to the Colegio de San Nicolás in Valladolid (today's Morelia) and in Mexico City's Colegio de San Ildefonso where he became a lawyer in 1796. He lived in Mexico City but when his parent got sick he had to go back to Morelia to take control of the family business (agriculture and mining) and the post office in the town. In August 1810 he got married to María Ana Martínez de Rulfo.

During the first months of the Mexican War of Independence he got in contact with Antonio Fernández, an independence soldier. Rayón sent him a letter with the idea of creating a group of people to represent the power of Fernando VII to try to stop the waste of resources. Miguel Hidalgo was in agreement with the idea. The Spanish tried to capture Rayón but he escaped and joined Miguel Hidalgo's troops in Maravatío. Later on, he became Hidalgo's private secretary.

In Guadalajara, Hidalgo named him Secretary of State, and as such, he signed the emancipation of slaves on December 6, 1810. He organized the provisional government with José María Chico as president, Pascacio Ortiz de Letona as ambassador and Francisco Severo Maldonado as chief editor of the first newspaper of the rebellion: El Despertador Americano (in English: The American Watchclock).

Miguel Hidalgo's army was defeated in the battle of Puente de Calderon (Batalla de Puente de Calderón) and Rayón escaped to Aguascalientes to join Rafael Iriarte. They went to Zacatecas to join the rest of the army that had escaped from the battle of Puente de Calderon.

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