José Miguel Infante
José Miguel Infante Rojas , (* 1778 in Santiago de Chile ; † April 9, 1844 ibid) was a Chilean statesman and politician.
Life
José Miguel Infante was born to wealthy parents in Santiago de Chile. His father was Agustín de Infante, his mother's name was Rosa Rojas. José studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1806.
His maternal uncle, José Antonio de Rojas, gave him access to his extensive library. There Infante also found the works of the French Enlightenment , which strongly influenced his thinking.
After Napoléon Bonaparte imprisoned the Spanish King Ferdinand VII in exile in France in 1808 in order to raise Joseph Bonaparte to the Spanish throne, the Spanish reacted largely negatively in the mother country and in the colonies. Local councils of government were formed in Spain to organize the resistance against the Napoleonic occupiers; There were also efforts of this kind in the Spanish colonial empire. As the representative of the Cabildo (municipal council) of Santiago, José Miguel Infante urged the formation of such a government junta in Chile in 1810.
In September 1810, the incumbent governor Mateo de Toro Zambrano y Ureta called an open meeting of dignitaries for September 18, 1810, on which the first government junta was constituted. At this meeting, Infante campaigned vehemently for the election to a national congress and found the approval of the majority for this position.
As MP for Santiago, he was elected to Congress and spoke out in favor of the colony's independence. In the turbulent times of 1813 and 1814, he served several times in government juntas at the side of José Miguel Carrera and created institutions such as the Instituto Nacional and the Biblioteca Nacional during this time .
After the Chileans were defeated by Spanish troops under Mariano Osorio in the War of Independence at the Battle of Rancagua , the leaders of the independence movement, including Infante, went into exile in Argentina .
In 1817 the Chileans returned victorious to their homeland. The military victory over the Spaniards ensured the country's independence. The Director Supremo Bernardo O'Higgins appointed Infante of Finance. After differences with O Higgins, he soon resigned.
When moderate forces reached O'Higgins' ousting in 1823, Infante was involved. Under the leadership of Ramón Freire y Serrano , he took a seat on the Supreme Court. Under his leadership, Chile abolished slavery ; as the first country in America.
In 1824 he got a seat in the Consejo dictatorial and worked there until 1826 under President Freire on the implementation of a federal system modeled on the USA . A series of constitutional reforms moved Chile in his favor. The country was divided into eight provinces, each of which was given its own parliament and headed by an intendente who was elected by the people. Infante disseminated his ideas through publications in the newspaper El Valdiviano Federal, which he founded .
The constitution did not have a good star; Administrative problems and massive resistance from clergy and conservatives led to the fact that the Congress dissolved in June 1827 and the new President Francisco Antonio Pinto Díaz declared the experiment of federalism over.
The conflict between conservative centralists and liberal federalists led to the civil war in 1829, in which Freire led the liberal cause and had to go into Peruvian exile after his defeat at the Battle of Lircay . Infante remained moderate and stood under the rule of the Conservatives under Pinto for the new Congress from 1830 onwards; he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Curicó but was soon excluded from the plenary. As a publicist, he continued to promote the federal and liberal cause.
When the waves of the conflict had calmed down, he was offered the chairmanship of the Supreme Court and a professorship in law at the Universidad de Chile ; but he refused both appeals.
In 1843, at the age of 65, he married Rosa Munita. In April 1844 he died in Santiago de Chile.
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| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Infante, José Miguel |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Infante Rojas, José Miguel (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Chilean statesman and politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1778 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Santiago de Chile |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 9, 1844 |
| Place of death | Santiago de Chile |