Federalization, in Argentine law, is the process of assigning federal status to a territory with the purpose of making that territory the national capital.
Federalization of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
politically separated the city from the
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
to put it under direct control of the national government. It was a constant aspiration of the
other provinces of
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
since the
formation of the national state. However, harsh political debates around the issue prevented federalization until 1880, more than sixty years later.
Concept in the Argentine Constitution
The first successful Constitutional Convention, which took place in 1853, defined in its 3rd article the status of Buenos Aires:
''The Authorities that exercise the Federal Government reside in the City of Buenos Aires, which is declared capital of the Confederacy by a special law.''
The terms ''Argentine Confederacy'' were used in those days to designate Argentina (usage would evolve until today, where the terms ''Argentine Republic'' are used instead). This article could not be enforced, as Buenos Aires withdrew from the convention, forming a separate state. When the province rejoined the country in 1860, an amendment was made to the constitution, which changed article III in a subtle way:
''The Authorities that exercise the Federal Government, reside in the city that is declared Capital of the Republic by a special law of Congress, previous cession made by one or more provincial legislatures from the territory to be federalized.''
This change did not declare Buenos Aires national capital right away, and left an open door for another city to be declared so. Although the city was made capital in the end, the change was satisfactory for the ''porteños'' as well as the rest of the country, and so it remained.
History
Buenos Aires and the provinces
The weight of a larger population, and the economic and commercial importance of the city as the only deep water port of the country, were decisive factors in the relationship between the federated provinces. This inequality was seen since the first years of the state, when after the
May Revolution
The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...
the Buenos Aires ''
porteño
In Spanish, the term (feminine: ''Porteña'') means "port city person". It is used to refer to residents of port cities such as Buenos Aires, Argentina; El Puerto de Santa María, Spain; Valparaíso, Chile; Mazatlán, Veracruz, Acapulco and Tamp ...
s'' were reluctant to accept the deputies of the interior in the
First Junta, and became more severe during the long period of political instability of the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second
The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds ...
triumvirates and the Directory. The attempts of 1819 and 1826 to dictate a
Unitarian constitution to centralize in Buenos Aires the direct administrative power over the entire national territory pushed the situation, and the political measures taken by the provinces in the successive years – such as the
Federal Pact
The Federal Pact ( es, Pacto Federal) was a treaty first signed by the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, Entre Ríos and Santa Fe on 4 January 1831, for which a Federal military alliance was created to confront the Unitarian League. Other p ...
– were oriented on avoiding such situations from taking place.
During the Assembly that dictated the
first constitution in 1853, the egalitarian representation with two delegates for each province in the Constitutional Convention provoked the rejection of Buenos Aires, who pretended a representation proportional to the population and whose interests were highly threatened by a federal government.
Trying to attenuate the conflict, the constitutional delegates didn't fix the federal condition of Buenos Aires city in the constitution itself, but though a special law, sanctioned a few days after the signature of the constitution.
Buenos Aires ignoring the powers of the constitutional convention drove the province to revolt and separate from the
Argentine Confederation
The Argentine Confederation (Spanish: ''Confederación Argentina'') was the last predecessor state of modern Argentina; its name is still one of the official names of the country according to the Argentine Constitution, Article 35. It was the name ...
until 1860, when it reincorporated in exchange of several modifications of the original constitutional text, and the suspension of the federalization.
Federal government, guest in Buenos Aires
Between 1860 and 1880, the federal authorities resided in Buenos Aires, but lacking direct administrative authority in the territory where they were located. When
Nicolás Avellaneda
Nicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva (3 October 1837 – 24 November 1885) was an Argentine politician and journalist, and President of Argentina from 1874 to 1880. Avellaneda's main projects while in office were banking and education ...
, candidate of the provinces, was elected for the national elections, the defeated
Bartolomé Mitre
Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina.
Mitre is known as the most versatile ...
headed the
revolution of 1874
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
.
The forces loyal to the federal government defeated Mitre at the
Battle of La Verde
A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
on November 26, and
José Miguel Arredondo
José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ).
In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...
at the
Battle of Santa Rosa
In the 19th century, Nicaragua was beset by political problems, allowing William Walker, an American Southerner seeking to establish English-speaking slavery states in Latin America, to ascend to the Nicaraguan presidency.
Walker believed in the ...
; General
Julio Argentino Roca
Alejo Julio Argentino Roca Paz (July 17, 1843 – October 19, 1914) was an army general and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 1880 to 1886 and from 1898 to 1904. Roca is the most important representative of the Generation ...
was the most beneficed, victorious at Santa Rosa, he consolidated his political influence that would take him to the
presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...
for the following mandate.
The relationship between the federal authorities and those of Buenos Aires continued to be hostile; Mitre's
Partido Unitario Nacionalista urged for electoral abstention, and Buenos Aires governor
Carlos Casares strengthened the separation of his power of administration and police, of the federal one.
Avellaneda attempted reconciliation by pardoning the revolutionaries, but the measure had little effect.
When in 1880 Mitre's perspectives of reaching the presidency were again dim, since Avellaneda gave wide support to Roca; an armed confrontation seemed again imminent.
Carlos Tejedor, new governor of Buenos Aires and supporter of Mitre, made allusion of the federal government being his ''guest''.
Federalization by arms
When Avellaneda's government announced the legislation of the federalization of Buenos Aires city, Governor
Tejedor ordered military mobilizations and the formation of militias to train citizens in the use of arms. The
National Congress sanctioned a law that prohibited the provinces to mobilize militarily without federal permission, but Buenos Aires ignored the law. When the federal government ordered the confiscation of a boat loaded with arms for the militias, colonel
José Inocencio Arias prevented the action, following Tejedor's orders.
In response to this belligerent attitude, Avellaneda arranged to temporarily move the Federal Government to the town of
Belgrano, by that time outside the city of Buenos Aires (the town was incorporated later, in 1888, to the Federal District, becoming a neighborhood of Buenos Aires city). The
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
,
Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
and part of the
Lower Chamber
A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or othe ...
moved there before the
national army, commanded by Roca, besieged Buenos Aires.
The armed confrontation was bloody, after the battles of
Puente Alsina,
Los Corrales and
San José de Flores, Tejedor's troops left in defeat.
Though Mitre gave support to the insurrection, he served as mediator during the signature of an agreement for the disarming of the militias and Tejedor's resignation.
The congress, from its provisional location in Belgrano, in a building currently serving as home to the
Museo Histórico Sarmiento
The Sarmiento History Museum ( es, Museo Histórico Sarmiento), located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano, Buenos Aires, Belgrano, is a museum dedicated to Argentine history, and in particular to the Generation of '80 and the life of Pre ...
, dissolved the legislature of Buenos Aires.
On August 24, 1880 Avellaneda presented a law to declare Buenos Aires City the capital of the republic, under direct control of the federal government; on September 21 the law was approved. With the ratification of the city's legislature days later, the city of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
was finally separated from its homonymous province, whose capital was moved in 1884 to the city of
La Plata
La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...
, built to serve that purpose.
Later federalization attempts
In 1987, president
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after more than ...
proposed moving the national capital to
Viedma, in an effort to attenuate the population centralization in Buenos Aires that the country experiences up to this day. The federalization law was approved in May but proved so unpopular that the transfer never took place, and the project was cancelled in 1989.
References
* {{Cite book
, author = Ruiz Moreno, Isidoro
, title = La Federalización de Buenos Aires: los debates y las leyes
, publisher = Buenos Aires: Hyspamerica
, year = 1986
, isbn = 950-614-467-2
External links
Armed events of 1880- Argentine Army
History of Buenos Aires
Political history of Argentina
Argentine Civil War
History of Argentina (1852–1880)
Capital districts and territories
Federalism by country