“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

López Jordán’s defeat clearly demonstrated the growing power of the central
government to subdue rebellious provinces by force. This did not mean, however, that the
dissident federalists now willingly accepted porteño control. Rather, López Jordán would
launch two more uprisings in 1873 and 1876 against national authorities in the province. In
these rebellions, however, López Jordán attempted, with much less success, to recreate
Urquiza’s strategy of working within the national system to secure provincial autonomy. In
each case, the entrerriano commander forged relationships with competing national politicians,
seeking to leverage his rural power base to gain concessions from metropolitan allies. In his
final 1876 campaign, López Jordán went so far as to enter into an alliance with Mitre and his
liberals in their own struggle over the question of the federalization of Buenos Aires city.
Ironically, López Jordán’s final defeat came fighting to sustain porteño dominance in the
national system in order to revive his waning fortunes in his home province. 42
Local Autonomy and State Power in Uruguay
The same tensions that ultimately produced López Jordán’s uprising in 1870 equally
occurred across the Uruguay River in the Estado Oriental. The Paraguayan War itself was
even less of a national project in Uruguay than in Argentina. With substantial elements of
even the victorious colorados largely disinterested in the conflict, Uruguayan involvement was
limited to efforts by Flores and a small circle of supporters. Flores himself participated only
briefly in the war. He returned to Uruguay in 1866 after less than a year of fighting. 43
Although Flores’ Paraguayan campaign was brief, his absence opened up rifts within
the colorados that mirrored those of the federalists across the river. In particular, the party
42 Rock, State Building, 67-68. Rock described López Jordán as a “junior partner of
metropolitan politicians.” Ibid., 101.
43 Juan Manuel Casal, "Uruguay and the Paraguayan War," in I Die with My Country:
Perspectives on the Paraguayan War, 1864-1870, ed. Hendrik Kraay and Thomas Whigham
(Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press 2004), 124.
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