The thirty years that followed the
defeat of Rosas saw the foundations
being laid for the
modern
Argentinian state . An important
economic expansion and the triumph
of Unitarism ensured the conditions
for the boom that followed; Buenos
Aires was finally to emerge supreme
from its struggles with the
provinces; and territorial conquest
began in earnest, resulting in the
subjugation of the most important of
the unconquered indigenous groups:
those of the south.
Urquiza's attempt to establish a
unifying constitution sympathetic to
Federalist interests foundered when
Buenos Aires proved unwilling to
renounce its privileged trading
terms or submit to his rule. The
province refused to approve the
1853 constitution , which led to
the creation of two separate
republics: one in Buenos Aires and
the other, the Argentine
Confederation, centred on Entre Ríos
and headed by Urquiza. This
situation changed in 1861, when the
governor of Buenos Aires,
Bartolomé Mitre , eventually
defeated Urquiza and his financially
crippled republic. The 1853
constitution was, with a few
significant amendments, ratified by
Buenos Aires, and the basic
structure of Argentine government
was set. This established a
bicameral federal legislature, an
independent judiciary, and an
executive president who would be
elected for a fixed, non-renewable
six-year term. In 1862, Mitre was
elected to the first presidency of
the newly titled Argentine
Republic . Other constitutional
provisions included ending trade
restrictions throughout the country
and promoting the colonization of
the interior, a result of which was
the sponsorship of the small Welsh
settlement in Patagonia.
Significantly, the president also
held the right to dissolve
provincial governments at will.
Mitre aimed for the rapid
modernization of the country,
focusing particularly on the
capital. His achievements included
promoting administrational
efficiency, creating a national
army, overseeing the expansion of a
railway network and creating
a national postal system. These
initiatives were financed by foreign
investment from Britain, which
contributed the capital to build
railroads, and greater export
earnings as a result, particularly,
of the important expanding trade in
wool . A more integrated
national infrastructure allowed a
greater flow of trade and higher
revenues in most of the interior. By
the mid 1860s, therefore, much of
the Federalist resistance had been
stamped out and the term caudillo
referred more to the
election-riggers hired by the
capital to control the interior.
The other significant event of
Mitre's presidency was the War of
the Triple Alliance (1865-70), a
conflict that had its origins in the
Federalist sympathies of Paraquay
and disputes over navigation rights
in the Paraná and River Plate. In
it, Argentina allied with Uruguay
and Brazil to defeat Mariscal Solano
López of Paraguay. After this bitter
campaign, Argentina secured control
of the upper Paraná and the
territory of Misiones.
The end of the war overlapped
with the presidency of Domingo
Sarmiento , the man who is most
identified with the drive to
"Europeanize" Argentina. Sarmiento
was the arch opponent of
caudillismo and was famous for
pillorying the likes of Rosas,
Quiroga, López and Ramírez in his
literary works. Sarmiento believed
that this age represented a
"barbaric" era in Argentine history,
its legacy holding the country back
from contemporary North American and
European notions of progress and
civilization. These theories of
progress were to impact heavily on
the remaining indigenous populations
of Argentina, as they sponsored
those who believed in "civilizing
the Indian", and helped to underpin
the doctrine of the so-called
"Generation of the Eighties" (the
1880s) who subscribed to imposing
the nation state by force.
Sarmiento is also remembered for
his highly ambitious educational
policy , one element of which
was the recruitment of North
American teachers. He also
encouraged European immigration on a
grand scale.
