Government junta in Chile (1810)
The first Government Junta in Chile from 1810 took over on 18 September 1810, the government violence in Chile and joined the Chilean War of Independence off. It held power for almost nine months until it was replaced on July 4, 1811 by the convening of the National Congress.
prehistory
Ruling governors
Chile has been part of the Spanish kingdom since its conquest ( Conquista ) by the Spaniards (→ History of Chile ). It acted as captain general of Chile under the viceroyalty of Peru . The head of government was a governor appointed by the Viceroy in Lima . From 1802 on, Luis Muñoz de Guzmán ruled , who was popular and respected by the people, got involved in the social life of Santiago and initiated significant improvements in the infrastructure. In February 1808 Guzman died and was replaced by the highest-ranking military, Francisco Antonio García Carrasco , who, however, had far less good contact with the local population than his predecessor.
Events in Spain
During the Napoleonic Wars , King Ferdinand VII lost the crown and was imprisoned in Valençay . Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed his brother Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain. Juntas loyal to the king were formed in several cities in Spain and coordinated the resistance against Napoleon in the Junta Suprema Central .
Reactions in South America
In South America, the news of the upheavals in Europe due to the long shipping times of the ships did not reach them until August 1808. The colonial governments in South America were still set up by King Ferdinand; the Napoleonic forces had no direct access to them. Nonetheless, the question arose as to how the South Americans should respond to the upheavals.
At that time hardly anyone questioned the royal family's claim to power. The political camps split up into absolutistas (absolutists) who saw the imprisoned King Ferdinand as the only legitimate ruler and who wanted to follow the representatives appointed by him unchanged. Another group, the carlotistas , placed their hopes in Charlotte Joachime of Spain (Spanish: Carlota ), the sister of King Ferdinand, who had fled to Rio de Janeiro with her husband (later King John VI of Portugal ) . The Charlottists saw in her the only capable representative of the ruling family and wanted her to build a legitimate power base in the South American colonies. Finally, there was the group of juntistas who, just like in the motherland, wanted to take over government affairs with their own bodies (government juntas) made up of proven personalities until the king had returned. The range of political ideas among the juntistas was wide - it ranged from the more moderate and conservative forces striving for a purely temporary fiduciary administration to the more radical sections who saw a junta as the first step towards regional internal self-government of the colonies. At that time there was no talk of complete independence from Spain.
Replacement of Governor García Carrasco
The governor of Chile, García Carrasco, had little recognition from the locals. His authority was completely lost when his involvement in the Scorpion Affair became known. In exchange for a share of the profits , he had ordered or at least approved the attack on the cargo ship Scorpion , which was loaded with smuggled cloth from England, and after its failure he covered the perpetrators from the reach of justice. Carrasco was inclined to the Charlottists and acted with as much severity as arbitrariness against all citizens to whom he accused junta sympathy. Arrests and deportations to Lima increased. When news arrived from Europe at the same time that the Spanish forces had withdrawn to Cádiz , the last bastion of the Spaniards against Napoleon, and had transferred government power to a government council, the citizens of Chile increased the pressure on Carrasco and forced him on July 16, 1810 to resign.
The viceroy in Peru formally appointed Francisco Javier de Elío as his successor, but in Montevideo he was tied to the defense of revolting peasants. In Santiago de Chile , however, the most senior officer took over the office of governor. It was Mateo de Toro Zambrano y Ureta , the first to hold this post, born in the New World. At that time, however, he was already 82 years old.
Demand for a junta
The juntistas believed they had found an ally in Toro Zambrano and continually urged him to agree to the establishment of a junta. In August the members of the local judiciary, the Real Audiencia of Chile, made a public pledge of allegiance to the government council in Cadiz. This increased the pressure on Toro Zambrano to position himself. Finally, he was persuaded to convene a public meeting (Spanish: cabildo ) at which selected dignitaries should discuss the question of future participation in government. The leading officers of the army, representatives of the clergy and the civilian population (Spanish: vecinos nobles ) were invited by Santiago. The meeting was scheduled for September 18, 1810 at nine o'clock in the morning.
The meeting of September 18, 1810
At the meeting, the juntistas quickly took the helm. They stormed the stage and shouted, “We want a junta! We want a junta! ”(Spanish:“ ¡Junta queremos! ¡Junta queremos! ”). The aged governor then put his official staff on the table and shouted: "Here is the staff, take it and rule!" (Spanish: " He aquí el bastón. Disponed de él y del mando. ")
Composition of the junta
The assembly then elected a government junta made up of:
| position | Surname | Age | Explanation |
|---|---|---|---|
| president | Mateo de Toro Zambrano y Ureta | 83 y. | former governor and senior army officer in Chile |
| Vice President | José Martínez de Aldunate | 79 y. | Bishop of Santiago |
| member | Fernando Marquez de la Plata | 70 y. | Chair and Chief Justice at the Real Audiencia of Santiago |
| member | Juan Martínez de Rozas | 51 y. | Scholar and colonel, driving force in the independence movement |
| member | Ignacio de la Carrera | 63 y. | Aristocrat, officer and father of the Carrera brothers José Miguel Carrera , Juan José Carrera , Luis Carrera |
| member | Francisco Javier de Reina | 48 y. | Colonel, artillery commander of Chile |
| member | Juan Enrique Rosales | ? | Aristocrat, member of the influential Larraín family |
| secretary | José Gaspar Marín | 38 y. | Lawyer from La Serena |
| secretary | José Gregorio Argomedo | 43 y. | Lawyer from San Fernando |
First political decisions
The first official act of the new government was to pledge allegiance to King Ferdinand. The case law of the Real Audiencia continued unchanged. Nothing should change in terms of personnel either, officials and officers kept their positions.
Reign of the junta
Further decisions
The junta saw itself as an institution in the sense of the Government Council of Cádiz, as can be seen in its founding protocol. It decided on freedom of trade with all countries that were neutral to Spain or were allied with it and imposed a uniform tariff of 134% on all imports (printing presses, books and weapons were duty-free).
A national defense militia was set up to become the base of the Independence Army.
Finally, a National Congress was convened for 1811, which should consist of 42 delegates. The elections for the delegates were scheduled for the following months.
Changes in composition
The junta president, Mateo de Toro Zambrano, died at the age of 83 on February 26, 1811 in Santiago. Since his deputy, Bishop Martínez de Adulante, was also seriously ill at the time (he died soon afterwards on April 8th), Juan Martínez de Rozas took over the presidency.
Dispute over direction
In terms of content, the rifts deepened. While the moderates (Spanish: moderados ) under the leadership of José Miguel Infante were cautious about reforms and saw themselves primarily as a transitional regime until King Ferdinand's return, the extremists (Spanish: extremistas , also exaltados ) wanted to use the opportunity to self-govern in the To advance the modernization and reform of the state. In the process, they developed more and more into a real independence movement, which initially strived to break away from Spain internally, but in the course of time also institutionally. At first the moderates were clearly in the majority, but public opinion gradually leaned towards independence.
The Figueroa coup
By March 1811, the delegate elections had already taken place in Santiago and Valparaíso . Shortly before the election date for Santiago, the monarchist Lieutenant Colonel Tomás de Figueroa decided to putsch against the government. A group of insurgents summoned him to the leader and on the morning of April 1, 1811 he took command of the San Pablo barracks and led the soldiers to the main square of Santiago with a bang. The government palace was already deserted; so Figueroa turned to the Real Audiencia , where regular court hearings took place. There he demanded the restitution of the old government; the judges heard his demands and offered to take them to the government.
The junta leader Martínez had gone into hiding. Instead, Fernando Marquez de la Plata, as the person in charge of the junta, ordered an army unit loyal to the government under Colonel Juan de Dios Vial with around 500 men to put down the uprising, which quickly succeeded. Figueroa fled to the Santo Domingo Convent; the government stormed the monastery and gave him a quick trial that resulted in his execution before dawn on April 2nd.
Consequences of the coup
The elections had to be postponed as a result of the uprising. For the more extreme forces of the junta, the coup was a welcome opportunity to dissolve the Real Audiencia because of its alleged involvement in the uprising, because it was seen as a pillar of Spanish power in Chile. A court of appeal (Spanish: Cámara de Apelaciones ) was set up in its place.
In the weeks that followed, public anger was increasingly directed against Martínez Rozas, who was accused of cowardice in the face of the coup. He was replaced as president of the junta by Márquez de la Plata and as leader of the exaltados replaced the following year José Miguel Carrera , who was still in Spain at the time of the coup and did not reach Chile until July 1811.
National Congress
The delegate elections took place in Santiago at the beginning of May; Even beforehand, there had been violent arguments between the elected representatives from the provinces and the city assembly of Santiago, during which it was debated how many deputies from Santiago should take part in the congress; originally six were planned, in the end there were twelve. Possibly also as a result of the uncertainty caused by the Figueroa putsch, the moderate and royalist candidates received a majority of the delegates, while the exaltados were in the minority.
On July 4, 1811 at 10 a.m., the National Congress met in the former premises of the Real Audiencia . This ended the reign of the First Junta.
literature
- Diego Barros Arana : Historia Jeneral de la Independencia de Chile. 4 volumes, Imprenta del Ferrocarril, Santiago de Chile 1855.
- From Frobel: South American Wars of Freedom. In: Bernhard von Poten (Ed.): Concise dictionary of the entire military sciences. Volume 9, Velhagen & Klasing, Bielefeld and Leipzig 1880, pp. 97-101.
- Claudio Gay: Historia de la Independencia Chilena. 2 volumes, Thunot, Paris 1856.
- Robert Harvey: Liberators - South America's Savage Wars of Freedom 1810-1830. Robinson Publ., London 2002, ISBN 1-84119-623-1
- Gerhard Wunder : Principles of the War of Independence in Chile (1808–1823). Dissertation, Münster 1932.
