Argentine Confederation

Two different institutions have gone by the name of the Argentine Confederation: the alliance of independent states based on the Federal Pact of 1831, which lasted until the passage of the Constitution in 1853; and the nation organized around that Constitution between 1853 and 1860, without the seceded State of Buenos Aires.

With the failure of the Constituent Congress of 1824 to 1826, the territories that are part of present-day Argentina operated as independent states or provinces. The conflicts between them led those on the coast to sign a treaty of alliance called the Federal Pact. Once their opponents were defeated, all of the other provinces joined the pact, which was the basis for the union, though it lacked confederative institutions. External relations were delegated to the governor of Buenos Aires, Juan Manuel de Rosas, who exercised considerable influence over the rest of the states.

Rosas was defeated by Justo José de Urquiza in 1852 at the Battle of Caseros, and Congress passed the Constitution the following year. Buenos Aires seceded from the confederation, refusing to participate until it was dominated militarily in 1859 and then forced to join in 1860 after its proposals for constitutional reform were accepted. This period of rule by Urquiza also was known as the Argentine Confederation, adopting one of the names mentioned in the Constitution.

See alsoArgentina, Constitutions .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Martin de Moussy, Victor. Descripción geográfica y estadística de la Confederación Argentina, 3 vols. Buenos Aires: Academia Nacional de la Historia, 2005. Originally published in the mid-nineteenth century.

                                    Eduardo JosÉ Miguez