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Arbiters of Change: Provincial Elites and the Origins of Federalism in Argentina's Littoral, 1814–1820
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
Early in 1817, in the tiny port of Rosario, a deeply troubled Comandante Tomás Bernal sat down at his desk to pen a confidential private letter to Supreme Director Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, head of the national government based in Buenos Aires. Nearly seven years after the May Revolution against Spain, the territory that would later become Argentina found itself buffeted by civil war. Bernal's region, the jurisdiction of the city of Santa Fe, just up the Paraná River from Buenos Aires, found itself enmeshed in the bitter conflict between the government in Buenos Aires, the former viceregal capital, and its principal rival, José Gervasio Artigas, leader of a federalist alliance based in the nearby Banda Oriental, modern Uruguay. Desperate to contain disputes between the national government and the recently created government of Santa Fe, Bernal counseled restraint. However, he knew that Buenos Aires and Santa Fe were on the brink of war. “For my part,” he wrote Pueyrredón:
you can count it as certain that in such a war I will not take part but I will not be able to keep myself from lamenting the loss of a precious part of this land, which has sworn to sacrifice its life only against a foreign enemy that would oppose the enjoyment of its rights.
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References
* I am indebted to the many colleagues, family members, and friends who have supported my work. In particular, I wish to thank John Womack, Jr., José Carlos Chiaramonte, Roberto Schmit, Juan Damián Capdevila, Greg Kaster, Matt Panciera, and Julia Sarreal. My thanks also to the anonymous readers whose comments improved this current article. Finally, I wish to express my gratitude to the staffs of the Archivo General de la Nación, and the provincial archives of Entre Ríos, Santa Fe, and Corrientes for their aid and unfailing courtesy. The current work was supported, in part, by an NEH Summer Stipend and by a Research, Scholarship, and Creativity Grant from Gustavus Adolphus College.
1 Archivo General de la Nación (hereafter AGN), X-5-9-2, Bernal to Pueyrredón, 19 Jan. 1817.
2 AGN, X-5-7-2, J.F. Bedoya to Pueyrredón, 29 May 1818. Emphasis added to reflect the repetition of the word “nada” in the original.
3 Scholarship on Argentina’s influential littoral region has tended to fall into three camps, all of which agree that the littoral quickly embraced federalism. The first, heir to the vision of Sarmiento and other national political figures, highlights the limitations of provincial federalists, whose actions were seen as delaying the creation of the national state. Donghi’s, Tulio Halperín Donghi’s outstanding Revolución y guerra: Formación de una elite dirigente en la argentina criolla, 3rd ed. (Buenos Aires: Siglo Veintiuno, 1994)Google Scholar remains the best expression of this view. Though it focuses on Buenos Aires, Lynch, John, Argen-tine Dictator: Juan Manuel de Rosas, 1829–1852 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981),Google Scholar condensed and updated as Argentine Caudillo: Juan Manuel de Rosas (Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, 2001) has also been influential. A second camp, the dominant one today, views provincial politicians more sympathetically, arguing that they embraced federalism as part of a struggle against Buenos Aires for a more equitable distribution of economic and political power. This view has its roots in provincial histories of the nineteenth century, which cataloged the grievances of provincial elites and followed the exploits of provincial political figures. On the littoral, see in particular: Lassaga, Ramón J., Historia de López (Buenos Aires: Imprenta de Mayo, 1881);Google Scholar Cervera, Manuel M., Historia de la ciudad y provincia de Santa Fe, 1573–1853, 2nd ed., 3 vols. (Santa Fe: Universidad Nacional del Litoral, 1979–1982);Google Scholar and Luis Busaniche, José, Estanislao López y el federalismo del litoral (Santa Fe: n.p., 1926) on Santa FeGoogle Scholar; Mantilla, Manuel F., Crónica histórica de la provincia de Corrientes, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires: Espiasse y Cía, 1928)Google Scholar and Gómez, Hernán F., Historia de la provincia de Corrientes, 2 vols. (Corrientes: Imprenta del Estado, 1928–9)Google Scholar on Corrientes; and Martínez, Benigno T., Historia de la provinca de Entre-Rios, vol. 1 (Buenos Aires: Martín Biedma e Hijo, 1900–1);Google Scholar vol. 2 (Buenos Aires: L.J. Rosso y Cía, 1910); vol. 3 (Rosario: Jacobo Peuser, Ltda., 1920) and Moreno, Martín Ruiz, Contribución a la historia de Entre Ríos, 2 vols. (Buenos Aires: La Facultad, 1914)Google Scholar on Entre Ríos. Early in the twentieth century, this provincial perspective began to be incorporated into broader works on national affairs, particularly Alvarez, Juan, Estudio sobre las guerras civiles argentinas (Buenos Aires: Juan Roldán, 1914)Google Scholar and the highly influential Ravignani, Emilio, Historia constitucional de la República Argentina, 3 vols. (Buenos Aires: Jacobo Peuser, Ltda., 1926–7).Google Scholar In recent decades, the excellent work of Chiaramonte, José Carlos has been especially influential within this camp, in particular: “Legalidad constitucional o caudillismo: El problema del orden social en el surgimiento de los estados autónomos del litoral argentino en la primera mitad del siglo XIX,” Desarrollo Económico, 26:102 (July-September 1986), pp. 175–96;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Mercaderes del Litoral: Economía y sociedad en la provincia de Corrientes, primera mitad del siglo XIX (Mexico and Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1991); “El federalismo argentino en la primera mitad del siglo XIX,” in Carmagnani, Marcello (ed.), Federalismos latinoamericanos: México/Brasil/Argentina (Mexico City and Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica and El Colegio de México, 1993);Google Scholar “Acerca del origen del estado en el Río de la Plata,” Anuario del Instituto de Estudios Histórico-Sociales, 10 (1995), pp. 27–50; Ciudades, provincias, Estados: Orígenes de la Nación Argentina (1800–1846) Biblioteca del Pensamiento Argentino, vol. 1 (Buenos Aires: Ariel, 1997); and Nación y Estado en Iberoamérica: El lenguaje político en tiempos de las independencias (Buenos Aires: Sudamericana, 2004). Burgin, Mirón, The Economic Aspects of Argentine Federalism, 1820–1852 (New York: Russell & Russell, 1971);Google Scholar Street, John, Artigas and the Emancipation of Uruguay (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959);Google Scholar Barba, Enrique, Unitarismo, federalismo, rosismo (Buenos Aires: Ediciones Pannedille, 1972);Google Scholar Goldman, Noemi, “Legalidad y legitimidad en el caudillismo: Juan Facundo Quiroga y La Rioja en el interior rioplatense (1810–1835),” Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana “Dr. Emilio Ravignani,” 7 (1993), pp. 31–58;Google Scholar Goldman, Noemí and Tedeschi, Sonia, “Los tejidos formales del poder: Caudillos en el interior y el litoral rioplatense durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX,” in Goldman, Noemí and Salvatore, Ricardo (eds.), Caudillismos rioplatenses: Nuevas miradas a un viejo problema (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1998), pp. 135–157 Google Scholar; Frega, Ana, “La virtud y el poder: La soberanía particular de los pueblos en el proyecto artiguista,” in Goldman, and Salvatore, (eds.), Caudillismos rioplatenses, pp. 101–133;Google Scholar Whigham, Thomas, The Politics of River Trade: Tradition and Development in the Upper Plata, 1780–1870 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1991);Google Scholar Adelman, Jeremy, Republic of Capital:Buenos Aires and the Legai Transformation of the Atlantic World (Stanford: Stanford University, 1999);Google Scholar Schmit, Roberto, Ruina y resurreción en tiempos de guerra: sociedad, economía y poder en el oriente entrerriano posrevolucionario, 1810–1852 (Buenos Aires: Prometeo, 2004)Google Scholar are also noteworthy works that incorporate a perspective more sympathetic to the provinces. A third camp, incorporating elements of the other two, stresses the popular roots of federalism. See in particular: Salvatore, Ricardo, “The Breakdown of Social Discipline in the Banda Oriental and the Littoral, 1790–1820,” in Szuchman, Mark D. and Brown, Jonathan C. (eds.), Revolution and Restoration: The Rearrangement of Power in Argentina, 1776–1860 (Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska, 1994), pp. 74–102 Google Scholar and Wandering Paysanos: State Order and Subaltern Experience in Buenos Aires During the Rosas Era (Durham and London: Duke University, 2003) as well as de la Fuente, Ariel, Children of Facundo: Caudillo and Gaucho Insurgency During the Argentine State-Formation Process (La Rioja, 1853–1870) (Durham: Duke University, 2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4 The “Instructions” are reproduced in full in Chiaramonte, , Ciudades, provincias, Estados, pp. 380–2.Google Scholar
5 Garavaglia, Juan Carlos, “Economie Growth and Regional Differentiations: The River Plate Region at the End of the Eighteenth Century,” Meléndez, Diane (tr.), Hispanic American Historical Review, 65:1 (1985), p. 58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6 Maeder, Ernesto, Evolución demográfica argentina de 1810 a 1869 (Buenos Aires: Eudeba, 1969), pp. 23–4.Google Scholar
7 Though Paraná and Concepción del Uruguay legally were not designated “cities” until the 1820s, I will apply the term to the 1810s both for the sake of simplicity and since they carried out similar administrative functions during this decade.
8 This view, of course, dates back to Sarmiento, Domingo Faustino, Life in the Argentine Republic in the Days of the Tyrants; or, Civilization and Barbarism, Mrs.Mann, Horace (tr.), (New York: Hafner Press, 1868).Google Scholar More recent iterations include Street, Artigas, pp. 146–61 ; Salvatore, , “Breakdown of Social Discipline”; and Halperín, , Revolución y guerra, pp. 279–96,Google Scholar which also recognizes serious tensions within this alliance.
9 Juan Carlos Garavaglia and Jorge Gelman have highlighted the key findings. See, for example, Gelman, , “New Perspectives on an Old Problem and the Same Source: The Gaucho and the Rural History of the Colonial Río de la Plata,” Escorcia, José (tr.), Hispanic American Historical Review, 69:4 (1989), pp. 715–31;CrossRefGoogle Scholar Garavaglia, and Gelman, , “Rural History of the Río de la Plata, 1600–1850: Results of a Historiographical Renaissance,” Smith, Julia Shrek and Kellum, Sharon (trs.), Latin American Research Review, 30:3 (1995), pp. 75–105;Google Scholar and Garavaglia, , “Un siglo de estancias en la campaña de Buenos Aires: 1751 a 1853,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 79:4 (1999), pp. 703–34.Google Scholar
10 Chiaramonte discusses the importance of mercantile credit to the rural economy in his excellent study of the economy of Corrientes: Mercaderes, pp. 29–35. Roberto Schmit analyzes the concentration of the province’s export trade to Buenos Aires: “Mercados y flujos comerciales en los estados provinciales argentinos de la primera mitad del siglo XIX. El comercio de Corrientes a Buenos Aires (1822–1833),” Boletín del Instituto de Historia Argentina y Americana “Dr. Emilio Ravignani,” 4 (1991), pp. 48–51.
11 Chiaramonte, , “Acerca del origen,” pp. 33–4;Google Scholar Adelman, , Republic of Capital, pp. 78–83 and 202–8.Google Scholar
12 AGN, X–5–7–1, “Actas” of 9 Feb. 1812; 8 July 1812; and 31 Oct. 1812.
13 AGN, X–5–9–2, Junta Representativa to Director Alvarez, 28 Sept. 1815.
14 “Estrado de las actas levantadas en cada uno de los Pueblos en que se practicó la elección de Diputados con arreglo a la circular anterior,” 4 Nov. 1821–27 Dec. 1821, in Recopilación de leyes, decretos, y acuerdos de la provincia de Entre-Rios (Concepción: Imprenta de la Voz del Pueblo, 1875–6), vol. 1, pp. 29–32. For the election of Soler, and the accompanying list of voters, see Archivo de la Provincia de Entre Ríos (hereafter APER), Congreso l°de Entre Rios, 27 Dec. 1821, folios 37–42.
15 “Estableciendo la forma en que debe consultarse la opinion de la Provincia acerca del sistema de Gobierno para la República porque ella se pronuncie,” 23 Jan. 1826, in Recopilación, vol. 2, pp. 108–110.
16 Archivo de la Provincia de Corrientes (hereafter APC), Correspondencia Oficial (hereafter CO)-34–130, 8 Dec. 1826 vote in Curuzú-Cuatiá; APC, CO-34–131–2, 12 Dec. 1826 vote in Corrientes; APC, CO-34–133, 19 Dec. 1826 vote in Saladas.
17 Halperín, , Revolución y guerra, pp. 279–96;Google Scholar Frega, , “La virtud y el poder,” pp. 114–33.Google Scholar
18 See Habermas, , The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, Burger, Thomas (tr.), (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1989).Google Scholar
19 AGN, X–5–7–1, Acta of 9 Feb. 1812.
20 AGN, X–5–7–1, Galván to Superior Govierno, 3 Feb. 1812 and draft reply, 18 Feb. 1812.
21 AGN, X–5–9–1, LP. Crespo and Isidro Cabal to Gobierno Supremo, 12 Dec. 1812. Their request led to new elections in which Morcillo’s name disappeared entirely.
22 “Memorias de don Domingo Crespo,” in Cervera, Santa Fe, vol. 3, pp. 486–7.
23 APC, CO–5–3, Cabildo to Domínguez, 23 Feb. 1814; APC, CO–5–9, Domínguez to La Fuente, 2 March 1814; APC, CO-5–15, J.V. García de Cossio to Domínguez, 12 March 1814; APC, CO-5–4–5, Cabildo to Basualdo, 8 March 11814; APC, CO-5–17, 14 March 1814 proclamation; APC, CO-5–27–28, Cabildo to Artigas, 20 March 1814; APC, CO-5–29, Artigas to Méndez, 21 March 1814; Mantilla,Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 186–7fn; Gómez, Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 102–4. Some of the documents from the APC have been reprinted in Hernán Gómez, Félix, El General Artigas y los hombres de Corrientes (Corrientes: Tercer Millar, 1929).Google Scholar
24 Gómez, H.F., Corrientes, vol. 1, p. 248.Google Scholar
25 Basualdo’s dismissal of officials in Curuzú-Cuatiá figured prominently in the cabildo’s letters of 8 March and 20 March: APC, CO-5-4-5, Cabildo to Basualdo, 8 March 1814 and APC, CO-5-27-28, Cabildo to Artigas, 20 March 1814. APC, CO-5-42, Casco to Méndez, 30 March 1814; APC, CO-5-46-7, J.F. Bedoya to Méndez, 8 April 1814; APC, CO-5-106, Instructions of the residents of Santa Lucia to their deputy, Fray José Pezoa, 16 May 1814; APC, CO-5-36, Artigas to Méndez, 29 March 1814.
26 Frega, , “La virtud y el poder,” pp. 106–14Google Scholar provides a highly sophisticated view of Artigas’s movement that seeks to highlight its radical elements.
27 Perugorría’s kinsman, Pedro José Perugorría, served as alcalde de primer voto in 1805 and participated in the highly restricted June 1810 cabildo abierto that recognized the revolutionary junta in Buenos Aires. Genaro Perugorría had served under Artigasis command during the first siege of Montevideo in 1811 but had remained loyal to the Directorate, serving as a captain in Entre Ríos until his capture. José Francisco Bedoya apparently joined Artigas sometime in 1813. APC, CO-5-42, Artigas to Méndez, 7 April 1814;APC, CO-5-51, Artigas to Perugomia, 14April 1814;APC, CO-5-55, Artigas to J.F. Bedoya, 17 April 1814; APC, CO-5-86, Artigas to J.F. Bedoya, 9 May 1814; APC, CO-5-95, Artigas to Méndez, 13 May 1814.
28 Mantilla, , Corrientes, vol. 1, p. 192fnGoogle Scholar and Gómez, , Corrientes, vol. 1, p. 111 Google Scholar provide the names of the deputies. Gómez adds the names of Bartolomé Cabrai, a former alcalde, and Juan Ignacio Acosta, a member of the 1814 cabildo. Maeder, Ernesto J.A., Historia económica de Corrientes en el período virreinal, 1776–1810 (Buenos Aires: Banco de la Nación, 1981), pp. 395–423 Google Scholar provides a list of colonial officials in Corrientes. APC, CO-5-151, Congress to Méndez, 27 June 1814; APC, CO-5-195-6, M.F. Artigas to Congress, 28 July 1814. Gómez, Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 109–14.
29 Artigas to Méndez, 29 Mar. 1814, APC, CO-5-36. The word “pueblo,” often translated as “people,” most often refers to the people as a corporate group, the city: Chiaramonte, Ciudades, provincias, Estados, p. 80.
30 Artigas to the Cabildo of Corrientes, 29 Mar. 1814 in Gómez, , Artigas y Corrientes, pp. 46–48.Google Scholar
31 AGN, X-5-7-1, M.F. Artigas to Perugorría, 26 Aug. 1814 (copy).
32 The original of this document apparently has been lost. Fortunately, bureaucrats in Buenos Aires were charged with summarizing each letter that arrived. I quote here from the surviving summary rather than from the original letter. AGN, X-5-7-1, A. Fernández Blanco to Director Supremo, Reservada, 5 Sept. 1814 (summary).
33 On the dispute between Angel Fernández Blanco and Manuel de Bedoya, see AGN, X-5-7-1, A. Fernández Blanco to Cabildo, 23 Dec. 1812; AGN, X-5-7-1, A. Fernández Blanco to Alcalde I°, 23 Dec. 1812; AGN, X-5-7-1, statement by José Francisco, Juan Manuel, Angel Mariano, and Juan Baltasar Bedoya, 30 Dec. 1812; AGN, X-5-7-1, “Acta,” 24 Dec. 1812; AGN, X-5-7-1, A. Fernández Blanco to Superior Gobierno, 2 Feb. 1813. On Perugorría’s complaint see AGN, X-5-7-1, Galván to Legal, 1 April 1811.
34 Fernández Blanco and the cabildo kept the Directorate apprised of their actions: AGN, X-5-7-1, Congress and Ayuntamiento of Corrientes to Governador Intendente of Entre Ríos, 24 Sep. 1814; AGN, X-5-7-1, Supremo Director to A. Fernández Blanco, 24 Sep. 1814; AGN, X-5-7-1, Cabildo to Supremo Director, 25 Oct. 1814.
35 AGN, X-5-7-1, Cabildo to Supremo Director, 3 Nov. 1814; AGN, X-5-7-1, Cabildo to Supremo Director, 25 Oct. 1814.
36 Mantilla adds that José Vicente Fernández Blanco paid Basualdo 4000 pesos to save his brother Angel’s life. Mantilla, , Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 192–201;Google Scholar Gómez, , Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 114–27;Google Scholar Acta capitular del 21 de Septiembre de 1814 in Gómez, , Artigas y Corrientes, 43–4;Google Scholar APC, CO-6-104, Death sentence of Perugorría, 17 Jan. 1815;APC, CO-6-90-93, Artigas to Silva, 4 Feb. 1815; APC, CO-6-190-91, 5 March 1815 proclamation; APC, CO-6-119, 11 March 1815 proclamation; Artigas to Silva, 2 July, 27 July, and 12 Aug. 1815, all in Gómez, , Artigas y Corrientes, pp. 90–1, 93–4, and 96–7.Google Scholar
37 AGN, X-5-7-2, J.F. Bedoya to Pueyrredón, 29 May 1818.
38 Gómez, , Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 244–75;Google Scholar Mantilla, , Corrientes, vol. 1, pp. 205–21.Google Scholar
39 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 394–5Google Scholar and Gianello, Leoncio, Historia de Santa Fe (Santa Fe: El Litoral, 1955), 118–9Google Scholar both offer accounts of this brief incident, which they interpret as a precursor of federalism.
40 Details of this incident remain sketchy, in part because authorities in Santa Fe prevented any investigation. AGN, X-5-9-1, Cabildo to Gobierno Superior, 13 Nov. 1812 (summary); AGN, X-5-9-1, Pereyra to Gobierno Superior, 19 Nov. 1812.
41 de Mondo, Urbano, Apuntes para la historia de la provincia de Santa Fe, 2nd ed. (Santa Fe: El Eco del Pueblo, 1876), pp. 22–33;Google Scholar“Memorias de don Domingo Crespo” in Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 3, pp. 486–8.Google Scholar
42 Iriondo, , Apuntes, p. 28.Google Scholar
43 AGN, X-5-9-1, Díaz Vélez to Viana, 28 Dec. 1814; AGN, X-5-9-1, Díaz Vélez to Viana, lOMarch 1815; AGN, X-5-9-1, Díaz Vélez to Viana, 13 March 1815; AGN, X-5-9-1, Cabildo to Martínez, 25 March 1815.
44 Archivo de la Provincia de Santa Fe (hereafter APSF), Actas del Cabildo contains records of the colonial cabildo elections. The present article refers to data compiled from the elections of 1776–1810, the period of the viceroyalty.
45 Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 33–6.Google Scholar Crespo, , “Memorias,” pp. 487–8Google Scholar mistakenly places these events in 1814.
46 AGN, X-5-9-2, Candioti and Cabildo to Director, 18 May 1815.
47 AGN, X-5-9-2, Benegas to Candioti, 8 June 1815; AGN, X-5-9-2, Candioti to Director, 16 June 1815.
48 “Acuerdo,” 27 July 1815, in Leyes y decretos de la provincia de Santa Fe: Recopilación Oficial, 6 vols. (Santa Fe: np, 1925–1926), vol. 1, pp. 10–12.
49 AGN, X-5-9-2, Candioti to Alvarez, 28 July 1815. Iriondo, Apuntes, pp. 37–8; Crespo, “Memorias,” p. 488; Cervera, Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 420–1 also provide some details on the expedition to Santa Fe.
50 AGN, X-5-9-2, Artigas to Cabildo of Santa Fe, 13 Aug. 1815 (copy).
51 AGN, X-5-9-2, Cabildo to Viamonte, 22 Aug. 1815 (copy). See also AGN, X-5-9-2, Cabildo to Director, 22 Aug. 1815; AGN, X-5-9-2, Viamonte to Cabildo, 24 Aug. 1815 (2 copied letters); AGN, X-5-9-2, Cabildo to Viamonte, 24 Aug. 1815.
52 AGN, X-5-9-2, Cabildo to Director, 26 Aug. 1815. Junta to Viamonte, 23 Aug. (actually 28 Aug.) 1815;“Acta,” 28 Aug. 1815; Junta to Cabildo, 28Aug. 1815; Viamonte to Junta, 29 Aug. 1815; Viamonte to Cabildo, 29 Aug. 1815; Viamonte to Cabildo, 2 Sept. 1815 all in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 12–21. These documents also appear in Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 3, pp. 500–6.Google Scholar Also see Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 39–40;Google Scholar Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 425–27;Google Scholar Lassaga, , López, pp. 19–20.Google Scholar
53 AGN, X-5-9-2, Cabildo to Director, 4 Sep. 1815. The Junta Representativa sent similar notes on September 4 and September 28: AGN, X-5-9-2, Junta to Director, 4 Sep. 1815 and 28 Sep. 1815.
54 Maciel volunteered for the revolutionary army when Belgrano's expedition reached Santa Fe in 1810. Posted to the artillery battery at Rosario, he claimed to have been the officer in charge of hoisting the blue-and-white Argentine flag for the first time. López, who had also joined Belgrano’s expedition, was captured during the defeat at Paraguari in Paraguay. After his escape, he returned to the revolutionary army and slowly rose through the ranks. During 1814, he fought against Artigas’s forces in Entre Ríos. In October 1815, while serving under Tarragona’s government, he was promoted to lieutenant by the Directorate. Though born illegitimate, López moved among the santafesino elite throughout his life. His father, Juan Manuel Roldán, was a captain in the colonial military establishment and belonged to a prominent office-holding family. López joined the likes of Pedro de Aldao and Domingo Crespo in marrying into the powerful Rodríguez del Fresno family.
55 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 426–41;Google Scholar Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 40–8;Google Scholar Crespo, , “Memorias,” pp. 488–91;Google Scholar Lassaga, , López, pp. 22–4.Google Scholar
56 Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 49–51;Google Scholar Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, p. 434; APSF, Actas del Cabildo, 10 May 1816.Google Scholar
57 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 441–3;Google Scholar “Resolución,” 10 June 1816 in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 34–5. Cervera, however, repeats Iriondo’s error in confusing these negotiations with those of October 1816. See Iriondo, , Apuntes, p. 51.Google Scholar
58 “Acuerdo,” 18 July 1816 in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 37–9.
59 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 445–62;Google Scholar Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 51–61;Google Scholar Lassaga, , López, pp. 34–43;Google Scholar Crespo, , “Memorias,” pp. 491–2;Google Scholar “Acta,” 5 Oct. 1816 in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 45–9.
60 AGN, X-5-9-2, Pueyrredón to Vera, 15 Jan. 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Bernal to Pueyrredón, 19 Jan. 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Vera to Pueyrredón, 21 Jan. 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Pueyrredón to Vera, 28 Jan. 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Vera to Pueyrredón, 12 Feb. 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Vera to Pueyrredón, 12 April 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, National Congress to Vera, 12 May 1817 (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, Vera to Pueyrredón, 16 May 1817; AGN, X-5-9-2, Pueyrredón to Vera, 29 May 1817 (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, Pueyrredón to Vera, 24 Dec. 1817.
61 López, to Artigas, 26 July 1818 in Papeles de Estanislao López, 3 vols. (Santa Fe: Archivo General de la Provincia, 1976–92), vol. 1, pp. 94–5.Google Scholar
62 Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 64–9;Google Scholar Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 485–8Google Scholar and 490; Lassaga, , López, pp. 57–9;Google Scholar “Bando,” 18 July 1818 in Papeles de López, vol. 1, p. 91 (also in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 65–6); “Bando,” 23 July 1818 in Papeles de López, vol. 1, pp. 92–3.
63 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 490–1.Google Scholar
64 Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 491–504;Google Scholar Iriondo, , Apuntes, pp. 66–73;Google Scholar Crespo, , “Memorias,” pp. 493–1;Google Scholar “Armisticio,” 5 April 1819 in Leyes y decretos, vol. l,pp. 67–8; “Ratificación,” 12 April 1819 in Leyes y decretos, vol. 1, pp. 68–70. Also see the letters published in Papeles de López, vol. 1, pp. 101–7.
65 For details on the talks between Santa Fe and Buenos Aires: AGN, X-5-9-2, Commissioners to López, 18 May 1819 (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, Commissioners to Pueyrredón (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, Pueyrredón to Commissioners, 5 June 1819 (copy); AGN, X-5-9-2, Commissioners to Pueyrredón, 19 June 1819 (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, Commissioners to López, 8 Sep. 1819 (draft); AGN, X-5-9-2, López to Commissioners, 13 Sep. 1819. López makes one of his clearest statements about provincial sovereignty in AGN, X-5-9-2, López to Commissioners, 12 June 1819. Artigas mentions Ramirez’s anger at López in a May 1820 letter quoted in Martínez, , Entre-Ríos, vol. 1, pp. 562–5.Google Scholar Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 509,Google Scholar 518–19, and 526. López’s 25 Aug., 31 Aug., and 3 Sep. 1819 letters to the cabildo appear in Papeles de López, vol. 1, pp. 117and 120-1; Artigas to Méndez, 17 Sep. 1819 in Gómez, , Artigas y Corrientes, pp. 204–5.Google Scholar
66 AGN, X-5-9-2, Commissioners to Pueyrredón, 19 June 1819 (draft).
67 The principal source on the conspiracy between Carrera, Alvear, and Sarratea is the memoir of Lucio Mansilla: “Memoria,” in Moritán, Santiago (ed.), Mansilla, Ramírez, Urquiza (Buenos Aires: Peuser, 1945), pp. 33–4.Google Scholar Mansilla’s account is not always trustworthy, but the 4 March 1819 letter from Artigas to the cabildo of Santa Fe, quoted in Cervera, Santa Fe, vol. 2, p. 520, and subsequent events, confirm the existence of the conspiracy. Mansilla, moreover, was an eyewitness to negotiations between the conspirators, Ramirez, and López. Street, Artigas, p. 330 also mentions Portuguese support for Alvear’s plans to return to Buenos Aires.
68 Ravignani, , Historia constitucional, vol. 1, pp. 308–20;Google Scholar Cervera, , Santa Fe, vol. 2, pp. 531–42.Google Scholar
69 Ravignani, , Historia constitucional, vol. 1, pp. 320–8;Google Scholar Mansilla, , “Memoria,” pp. 31–3 and 37.Google Scholar