The declaration of the Argentine Independence It was on July 9, 1816. It meant a very important step in the long struggle for the consolidation of this new country. But at the same time that he closed the many issues that prevented independence between 1810 (May revolution) and 1816, opened other conflicts that marked very strongly the following years of his history.
The United Provinces of South America was the name that these territories had at the time, before belonging to the Viceroyalty of the River Plate one of the administrative divisions of the Spanish Colonial Empire.
The main source of conflict that arose after the Declaration of Independence of the United Provinces of South America (the name these territories had at the time) was the vital question of how this new independent state was going to be governed and organized. This was closely linked –of course- to how the economic interests of the different regions and the different power groups would be handled.
This was fundamentally expressed in two positions that lasted and were consolidated: federalists vs. centralists. That is, those who wanted a strong and centralized government in Buenos Aires (centralism), and those who pointed to a federation of provinces (federalism). It was, without more or less, the germ of the civil wars between federals and unitaries that would go through the following decades of the Argentine history.
At the same time, the Statement meant an important reinforcement to the American struggles for the Iindependence. Soon it would be time to execute the continental plan of Saint Martin that had been in preparation for a few years and that –through the crossing of the Andes– would open the way for the liberation of Chili Y Peru.
From a more abstract point of view, we can see how the Declaration of Independence it functioned as an element of legitimation of the revolutionary project and as a foundation in the construction of the -then incipient- “national identity”. It also had a positive psychological impact on the population and the troops, increasingly overwhelmed by the hardships of a long war.
More information in:
Ministry of Education
Images:
1. Representation of the Declaration of Independence, in the Ministry of Education.
2. Map of the United Provinces in South America in 1816, on wikipedia
3. Act of the Declaration of Independence, on Wikipedia