The Argentine War of Independence began in 1810, and the battle of Tucumán was fought in September 24, 1812, outside the city. The Laguna-Bazán family was not living in the house at the time, which was used as a barracks for the troops of the Army of the North. The government established the customs and the Regimental depot in 1815, paying a fee to the owners of the house for it. The Congress of Tucumán, with representatives of most provinces of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, began to work in 1816. Family tradition maintained that the Laguna Bazán donated the house to the state for the Congress and that other families and religious orders donated furniture for it, but historian Ramón Leoni Pinto proved in 1974 that the house was rented to the state and that the furniture was built by slaves for the event. The Congress began to work on March 1, 1816, and issued the Argentine Declaration of Independence on July 9. The Congress continued its work up to February 1817, when it was moved to Buenos Aires.