Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5
AGRARIAN EXPANSION
AND NATION BUILDING
(1820-1880)
In 1816, representatives from all the Argentine provinces assembled
in Tucumán and declared themselves independent of Spain, forming
a nation they called the United Provinces of the River Plate; however,
peace and tranquility did not return to the war-ravaged region. The
hastily written constitution for Argentina established a national con-
gress, states' rights, an anemic executive branch (with a “director” at its
helm), and an even weaker judiciary. Everyone ignored it.
Instead, the revolutionary-era caudillos organized their own militias
and ruled the provinces with iron fists. Each provincial strongman dis-
trusted his counterparts in the neighboring provinces and made and
broke alliances in numerous military actions against his neighbors.
These authoritarian leaders brooked no opposition and preferred to
maintain the neutrality at least of the elite families, from whom many
of them had come. But they were not above intimidating the privileged
few to stay in power—all in an effort to save the “order of society.”
An electoral process began to operate but would not gain legitimacy
until the end of the 19th century and then would be accompanied by
vote manipulation. Under these circumstances, the political life of the
Argentine nation did not begin auspiciously.
Argentines succeeded, nevertheless, in laying the foundations for
constructing a modern nation. They reoriented the region's economy
away from the defunct mines of Bolivia toward an Atlantic trade in a
variety of ranch products. Expanding trade in Argentine hides and wool
underwrote frontier expansion, integration into the world economy,
and a significant rise in productivity. The economic growth ultimately
contributed to a political rapprochement among the provinces. By 1853,
