Agustín Eyzaguirre

Agustín Eyzaguirre Arechevala

Agustín Manuel de Eyzaguirre Arechavala (born May 3, 1768 in Santiago de Chile , † July 19, 1837 on his estate Calera de Tango ) was a Chilean businessman and politician . During the Chilean War of Independence he served twice as head of state as chairman of a respective junta in 1814 and 1823 , before becoming vice-president in July 1826 as a result of the creation of the presidency under Manuel Blanco Encalada and finally after Blanco Encalada's resignation from September 1826 to January 1827 became the second president of Chile .

Life

Eyzaguirre came from a wealthy aristocratic family and studied ecclesiastical and secular law at the Real Universidad de San Felipe before turning to theology in 1786 , where he graduated as a Bachelor of Science in 1789 . However , he refrained from being ordained priest and decided instead to take over the management of his father's estate when he was 21 years old.

In 1810 he was elected mayor ( Alcalde ) of Santiago. At that time, resistance arose among the people of Chile against the new King of Spain, Joseph Bonaparte , who had been installed by Napoléon Bonaparte as ruler by the grace of France . The Chilean War of Independence began: Supporters of the traditional Spanish monarchy formed a junta on September 18, 1810, which stood up against the new Spanish rulers and demanded the return of the dynasty for Spain and more independence for Chile from the colonial power. The insurgents formed a first national congress to which Eyzaguirre also belonged; but when the rebellion under José Miguel Carrera culminated in armed struggle against the Spanish troops, this first form of pre-parliament came to an abrupt end.

Agustín Eyzaguirre withdrew from political life and devoted himself again to trade and agriculture, until Carrera realized in 1813 that the conduct of the war was consuming all his strength. He put the administration of the rebellious Chile in the hands of a junta, into which he appointed Agustín Eyzaguirre in addition to José Miguel Infante and Francisco Antonio Pérez . After Infante had initially led this junta from August 1813, Eyzaguirre was head of state for the first time from January 11 to March 7, 1814 as chairman of the junta.

When Francisco de la Lastra became Head of State as Director Supremo a week later on March 14th, Eyzaguirre withdrew again into private life. A few months later, between 1814 and 1817, the Spaniards regained the upper hand in the War of Independence and Eyzaguirre was captured by the new government and exiled to the Juan Fernández Islands . His wife, Teresa, ran the family's affairs during his absence.

In March 1817 Eyzaguirre and the other political exiles were allowed to return to the mainland after Bernardo O'Higgins became Director Supremo and the Spaniards were largely defeated. Eyzaguirre founded the Compañía de Calcuta together with some partners , which was supposed to stimulate trade between Chile and Asia ; however, the project failed and the company was abandoned.

Following the resignation of O'Higgins, a junta led by Eyzaguirre took over on January 28, 1823 again the power in Chile, she was "authorized Congress" on March 29, 1823 from ( Congreso Plenipotenciario ) replaced until April 5, 1823 Coup of the liberal federalists under Ramón Freire y Serrano came to power as the new Director Supremo. Under the liberal rule of Freire, Agustín Eyzaguirre served as MP and Senator.

When the Congress in 1826, after a tough struggle with General Freire, had achieved his resignation, the interim president Manuel Blanco appointed Encalada Eyzaguirre as vice-president. On September 9, 1826, Blanco resigned and Eyzaguirre became the second president in Chilean history.

The liberals under Freire had not resigned themselves to his disempowerment. They started an armed uprising in January 1827 and brought about the resignation of Agustín Eyzaguirre on February 1, 1827, in whose place they again installed Freire as transitional president.

The political situation in Chile at that time was unmanageable, and the country was in a desolate state: the government was unable to pay the civil servants and the army , the executive powers were in constant dispute with parliament, and gangs of marauding guerrillas and bandits ruled in the south. Politically, liberal federalists and conservative centralists were irreconcilable.

Eyzaguirre escaped this confusion and returned to his family estate, where he died in 1837 .

See also: History of Chile

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