Juan Bautista Alberdi

Juan Bautista Alberdi was born on August 29, 1810, in Tucumán. A brilliant musical prodigy and law student in Buenos Aires, he was a key figure of the 'Generation of 1837' alongside Esteban Echeverría and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, fleeing to Montevideo and Chile to escape the authoritarian rule of Juan Manuel de Rosas.

Following Rosas' fall in 1852, Alberdi published his epochal book Bases y puntos de partida para la organización política de la República Argentina, coining the immortal doctrine 'Gobernar es poblar' (To govern is to populate). His treatise provided the exact philosophical and constitutional architecture for Argentina's 1853 Federal Constitution, promoting open European immigration, religious tolerance, and free-market railway commerce. In Argentina, Lawyers' Day is celebrated annually on his birthday.