American War History Story

Chapter 44: Argentina declared independence

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Since the May Revolution, the situation in La Plata has been turbulent. Various interest groups have been arguing over what kind of government to establish for a long time. Especially between the centralized and federal factions of Buenos Aires, and between the capital of Brunos Aires and the provinces in the interior, there are even more contradictions. And various suggestions are also coming, some even advocate the establishment of a monarchy.

Because of these disputes, the La Plata area has not been stable and unification for a long time.

In the spring of 1816, Portugal invaded Uruguay, threatening Argentina's interests. This incident accelerated the determination of the Buenos Aires centralists to form a government. For this reason, they made concessions to the federal system, and the provinces also agreed to convene parliaments.

On March 25, 1816, the La Plata Provincial Congress was formally held in Tucuman. A total of 32 representatives attended the conference. Some provinces such as Paraguay did not send representatives to participate, and Bolivia sent only a few representatives to participate.

On July 9th of the same year, the Congress formally declared the independence of the United Province of La Plata.

Its scope still includes all the areas of the former Governor-General of La Plata, but in fact it does not include Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia. The Congress elected Juan Martin de Pueredon as the supreme consul.

In 1819, De Pheredon promulgated a constitution, which caused dissatisfaction among the provinces because the constitution did not allow provinces to autonomy. As a result De Pheredon was forced to resign.

In 1824, another parliament was called, another constitution was drawn up, and Bernardino Ribadavia was elected president.

At this time, given that Uruguay and Paraguay were established respectively, Bolivia withdrew from the federation in 1825, and the scope of the federation was limited to Argentina.