“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
evidence to Bento José de Farias, the Vice-Counsel for the Uruguayan government. José also notarized it, apparently for use in the Estado Oriental’s courts. 53 Interestingly, Manoel José de Carvalho, who had originally sold land in Uruguay to Lemos Pinto, appeared on his behalf as a witness to the registration. 54 Carvalho’s appearance once more suggested how reciprocal ties could be used to protect legal rights. Although Lemos Pinto ultimately never tried the case (or at least, no record of the proceeding survives), his actions show how he used his commercial associations to begin the process of establishing a legally cognizable claim by assembling both documentary, but also reputational evidence. The experiences of traders, landowners and local elites like Guarch and Lemos Pinto provide a window into the borderlands legalities underpinning trading relationships stretching across the Río de la Plata’s peripheral hinterlands. Each man carefully maneuvered to establish alliances with important allies across the borderlands. They used these connections to navigate multiple political conflicts and shelter assets from military reverses in different parts of the borderlands space. At the same time, the reciprocal ties growing out of trading relationships provided a resource upon which both Guarch and Lemos Pinto drew in order to protect their legal rights in diverse venues throughout the region. As Guarch, Picant, Lemos Pinto and others developed commercial linkages and turned to reciprocal relationships to secure their legal rights, they also created opportunities for powerful political figures like Rivera to enhance their own personal prestige by using their positions to foster and protect these ties. We already glimpsed this through Guarch’s 53 APRGS. Alegrete. Tabelionato. Registros Diversos, Lançamento de huns de sociedade (May 26, 1849), 28-31. 54 APRGS. Alegrete. Tablionato. Registros Diversos, Lançamento de hum papel da venda e compra particular entre partes como Comprador Bernardino Martins Munis e Francisco de Lemos Pinto como vendedor Manoel José de Carvalho (February 15, 1851), 60. 90
dealings with Vázquez and the Carvalho family. Rivera emerged as a critical link in the original land transactions between the men. Rivera also used his political position to accord protection to the cross-border property relationships the transaction embodied throughout the early 1840s. For this reason, the Carvalhos, Guarch and Vázquez funneled funds back into Rivera’s military campaign, bolstering the colorado caudillo’s political position and with it his status as a key guarantor of borderlands economic relationships. Borderlands Legalities, Rivertine Trade and Justo Urquiza Perhaps no figure represented the possibilities that the borderlands commercial revolution offered for enhancing personal and political clout better than Justo José de Urquiza. The powerful rancher and political leader of Entre Ríos province was at the center of the growth of the lower Uruguay’s export-oriented ranching economy. Urquiza proved particularly adept at forging commercial associations with a number of prominent merchants and traders along the Uruguay. Over time, these efforts permitted Urquiza to amass a huge fortune. Urquiza’s economic might and military acumen, in turn, facilitated the entrerriano leader’s political rise. Urquiza’s experience reveals not only the economic dynamism of the borderlands, but also how the relationships cemented through the system of borderlands legalities could foster the emergence of powerful political figures capable of rivaling putative national leaders like Rosas. Urquiza was born in Concepción, Entre Ríos, in 1801. His father, Josef Narciso Urquiza, was one of the original European settlers in the area. By the outbreak of the revolutions in Buenos Aires, Josef Narciso had developed a modest, although prosperous property along the Uruguay in eastern Entre Ríos. Urquiza spent a good portion of his childhood in Buenos Aires at the college of San Carlos. After graduating in 1816, he gained his initial commercial experience and connections working at Buenos Aires’ port. In 1819, 91
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evidence to Bento José de Farias, the Vice-Counsel for the Uruguayan government. José<br />
also notarized it, apparently for use in the Estado Oriental’s courts. 53 Interestingly, Manoel<br />
José de Carvalho, who had originally sold land in Uruguay to Lemos Pinto, appeared on his<br />
behalf as a witness to the registration. 54 Carvalho’s appearance once more suggested how<br />
reciprocal ties could be used to protect legal rights. Although Lemos Pinto ultimately never<br />
tried the case (or at least, no record of the proceeding survives), his actions show how he<br />
used his commercial associations to begin the process of establishing a legally cognizable<br />
claim by assembling both documentary, but also reputational evidence.<br />
The experiences of traders, landowners and local elites like Guarch and Lemos Pinto<br />
provide a window into the borderlands legalities underpinning trading relationships<br />
stretching across the Río de la Plata’s peripheral hinterlands. Each man carefully<br />
maneuvered to establish alliances with important allies across the borderlands. They used<br />
these connections to navigate multiple political conflicts and shelter assets from military<br />
reverses in different parts of the borderlands space. At the same time, the reciprocal ties<br />
growing out of trading relationships provided a resource upon which both Guarch and<br />
Lemos Pinto drew in order to protect their legal rights in diverse venues throughout the<br />
region.<br />
As Guarch, Picant, Lemos Pinto and others developed commercial linkages and<br />
turned to reciprocal relationships to secure their legal rights, they also created opportunities<br />
for powerful political figures like Rivera to enhance their own personal prestige by using<br />
their positions to foster and protect these ties. We already glimpsed this through Guarch’s<br />
<br />
53 APRGS. Alegrete. Tabelionato. Registros Diversos, Lançamento de huns de sociedade<br />
(May 26, 1849), 28-31.<br />
54 APRGS. Alegrete. Tablionato. Registros Diversos, Lançamento de hum papel da venda e<br />
compra particular entre partes como Comprador Bernardino Martins Munis e Francisco de Lemos Pinto<br />
como vendedor Manoel José de Carvalho (February 15, 1851), 60.<br />
90 <br />
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