Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Argentina acquired a constitution more consistent with its political
realities. Moreover, the fighting of two wars, one against Paraguay and
the other a final battle with the indigenous peoples, forged a national
army that finally eclipsed the disruptive local militias.
In its arduous process of economic growth and political unification,
Argentina also began to develop opportunities for its growing popu-
lation. However, the country could not shake its colonial mentality
while deciding how to share the opportunities that economic growth
and nation building presented. The politicians continued to put public
trust behind personal gain for themselves and their political insid-
ers. Expansion of settlements on the frontier solidified the power of a
landed elite that remained socially conservative despite its economic
dynamism. The economic boom, therefore, went hand-in-hand with
an effective repression that curtailed the economic opportunities of
the rural residents of color—mestizos, mulattoes, and Afro-Argentines.
Immigrant Europeans continued to enjoy greater social mobility than
did native-born workers. Neocolonial social practices did not diminish
in the postrevolutionary period.
Disunity and Caudillo-Style Politics
Buenos Aires sought to claim its revolutionary and economic birthright
in dominating the rest of the disunited provinces. Those who headed
the government at the capital pretended to speak for the nation and uti-
lized its commercial position to reinforce this pretension. They decreed
repeatedly that all trade with Europe was to pass through Buenos Aires,
setting the small
porteño
navy to regulate trade on the Paraná and
Uruguay Rivers. To the provincials, it seemed that Buenos Aires in the
early 19th century was treating them as the Spanish Crown had once
treated colonial Buenos Aires.
Moreover, the politicians of the port city did not agree among
themselves and conspired against one another. The political mael-
strom in Buenos Aires forced every single head of government
out of office well before his official term expired. Most ruled with
emergency, extraconstitutional powers under states of siege. The
revolutionary militia leader Juan Martín de Pueyrredón left office
as director of the United Provinces of the River Plate early in 1819
and was succeeded by José Rondeau, who lost his position the fol-
lowing year after losing the battle of Pavón to the combined forces
of Entre Ríos and Santa Fe. The two caudillo leaders who defeated
Rondeau—Francisco Ramírez and Estanislao López—had a fall-
