 Mariano Moreno was the son of poor parents , Manuel Moreno y Argumosa and Ana Maria Valle , he had fourteen siblings . He studied at Colegio Grande de San Carlos , but without living in it , as his family could not afford the price . He graduated with an honor diploma . He met influential people within the literary field , who helped him to continue his studies at the University of Chuquisaca , even when his father could not afford the cost . This was the only big university in South America at the time . He studied the books of Montesquieu , Voltaire , Denis Diderot , Jean @-@ Jacques Rousseau , and other European philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment . He studied English and French languages as well , to understand authors from Britain and France . This allowed him to work as a translator , and he spent several years working with Rousseau 's The Social Contract . Moreno was convinced that society could be changed by the power of intelligence and reason . 
