Government Junta of Chile (1810)
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The First Government Junta of Chile, officially the Provisional Government Junta of the Kingdom in the name of
Background
| History of Chile |
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| Timeline • Years in Chile |
At the start of 1808, the Captaincy General of Chile—one of the smallest and poorest colonies in the Spanish Empire—was under the administration of Luis Muñoz de Guzmán, an able, respected and well-liked Royal Governor. In May 1808 the overthrow of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII, their replacement by Joseph Bonaparte and the start of the Peninsular War plunged the empire into a state of agitation. In the meantime, Chile was facing its own internal political problems. Governor Guzmán had suddenly died on February of that year and the crown had not been able to appoint a new governor before the invasion. After a brief interim regency by Juan Rodríguez Ballesteros, and according to the succession law in place at the time, the position was laid claim to and assumed by the most senior military commander, who happened to be Brigadier Francisco García Carrasco.
Brigadier García Carrasco was a man of crude and authoritarian manners, who managed in a very short time to alienate the
In 1809 Governor García Carrasco himself was implicated in a flagrant case of corruption (the
Count Toro Zambrano was, by all standards, a very unorthodox selection. He was a very old man already (82 years old at the time) and moreover a
Members
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| President | Mateo de Toro Zambrano
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| Vice President | José Martínez de Aldunate
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| Members | Fernando Márquez de la Plata
Juan Martínez de Rozas Ignacio de la Carrera Cuevas Colonel Francisco Javier de Reyna Juan Enrique Rosales |
| Secretaries | José Gaspar Marín José Gregorio Argomedo |
Establishment
From the very beginning the juntistas took the political initiative. They were able to place their members in charge of sending the invitations, thus manipulating the assistance lists to their own advantage. At the September 18th session, they grabbed center stage with shouts of "¡Junta queremos! ¡junta queremos!" ("We want a junta! We want a junta"). Count Toro Zambrano, faced with this very public show of force, acceded to their demands by depositing his ceremonial baton on top of the main table and saying "Here is the baton, take it and rule". The discussion ended with the establishment of the Government Junta of the Kingdom of Chile, also known as the First Junta, which was organized with the same powers held by a Royal Governor. In the discussion triumphed the idea of a local independent government as opposed to the monarchist idea of submitting themselves to the control of the Regency Council. Nonetheless, this idea of "independence" must not be taken in the modern sense. This junta never intended to sever the relationship with the monarchy, but was only taking advantage of the possibility to assert local rule.
Administrative measures
Their first measure was to take a formal loyalty oath to Ferdinand VII as legitimate King. Count Toro Zambrano was elected President, and the rest of the positions were distributed equally among all parties, but the real power was left in the hands of the secretary, Juan Martínez de Rozas. The junta then proceeded to take some concrete measures that had been long-held aspirations of the colonials: it created a militia for the defense of the kingdom, decreed freedom of trade with all nations that were allied to Spain or neutrals, a unique tariff of 134% for all imports (with the exceptions of printing presses, books and guns which were liberated from all taxes) and in order to increase its representation, and ordered the convocation of a National Congress.
Immediately, political intrigue began amongst the ruling elite, with news of the
Political tendencies
Three political tendencies were starting to appear: the extremists, the moderates and the royalists. These groups were all decidedly against independence from Spain and differentiated themselves only in the degree of political autonomy that they sought. The moderates (Spanish: moderados), under the leadership of José Miguel Infante, were a majority, and wanted a very slow pace of reforms since they were afraid that once the King was back in power he would think that they were seeking independence and would roll-back all changes. The exalted (Spanish: exaltados) were the second most important group and they advocated a larger degree of freedom from the Crown and a faster pace of reforms stopping just short of full independence. His leader was Juan Martínez de Rozas. The royalists were against any reform at all and for the maintenance of the status quo.
Figueroa Mutiny
The great political surprise up to that point had been the results from the other center of power,
On April 1, the royalist colonel Tomás de Figueroa—considering the notion of elections to be too populist—led a revolt in Santiago. The revolt sputtered, and Figueroa was arrested and summarily executed. The mutiny was successful in that temporarily sabotaged the elections, which had to be delayed. Eventually, however, a National Congress was duly elected, and all 6 deputies from Santiago came from the moderate camp. Nonetheless, the mutiny also encouraged a radicalization of political postures: even though moderates advocating only greater autonomy of the elites from Spanish Imperial control—without a complete rupture—gained the majority of seats, a vocal minority was formed by excited revolutionaries who now wanted complete and instant independence from Spain.
As a consequence of the mutiny, Martinez de Rozas was replaced on April 2, 1811, by
See also
- Chilean War of Independence
- Figueroa mutiny
- History of Chile
- List of government juntas of Chile
- List of heads of state of Chile
- Junta (Peninsular War)
- First Chilean National Congress
External links
- La Aurora de Chile, First Chilean Newspaper (1812) online. (in Spanish)
- Monograph (in Spanish)