“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ... “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...
French occupation and new king exploded throughout the peninsula. On 2 May 1808, crowds took to the streets in Madrid and confronted French troops. Within days, the popular uprisings had spread into a general revolt against the French. The Spanish resistance initially fragmented into a number of local representative bodies. It was soon consolidated into a new entity, the Junta Central, based in Seville. The opposition Spanish government struggled to resist the advancing French armies for the next year. By early 1810, however, Napoleon’s forces had driven the Spanish opposition from much of the peninsula. The rump of the Spanish resistance took refuge on the island-city of Cádiz under the protection of the British navy. 11 From colonists’ perspective in the Americas, Spain appeared hopelessly lost. The growing power vacuum in the imperial core quickly triggered conflicts between rival factions in the Río de la Plata over who would rule in the name of the captured king. The majority of Creoles backed Liniers. Peninsular Spaniards, however, correctly sensed their traditional hold on power slipping away under the new viceroy. Utilizing their dominant position in Montevideo, European Spaniards rallied around Governor Francisco Javier Elío. Elío rejected viceregal authority and ordered the creation of a new junta to govern the Río de la Plata. Secretly, Elío also began to reach out to Princess Carlota, Fernando’s sister and wife of Portugal’s prince regent in Brazil. Carlota had proclaimed herself regent of Spain and the Indies, offering to rule in her brother’s absence. For Elío and the European Spaniards, the prospect of a new monarch offered a means to save their own declining position in the colonies. At the same time, however, it also meant subordinating the Río de la Plata entirely to the Portuguese crown. This was something the majority of American Spaniards decisively opposed. To avoid this, the peninsulares equally reached out to the Junta Central in Spain. 11 Rodríguez O., The Independence of Spanish America, 49-82. 36
They requested that the Junta appoint a new viceroy that would be friendlier to the European Spaniards’ interests than Liniers. Representatives from Montevideo finally succeeded in convincing Spanish officials that the French-born Liniers was a traitor who would tender the viceroyalty to Napoleon and his brother. The Junta Central appointed Baltasar de Cisneros, a veteran of Trafalgar, as the new viceroy. Cisneros’ arrival in Montevideo in 1809 temporarily defused the tensions between the two ports. Despite accusations of treason, Cisneros successfully arranged for a peaceful transition of power. Liniers renounced his office and Cisneros pardoned the militia commander. Once in office in Buenos Aires, Cisneros faced the delicate task of bridging the growing chasm between European and Creole Spaniards. He was not up to it. Lacking funds, Cisneros was forced to continue to rely on the Creole militias in the capital to maintain order. At the same time, the European faction continued to demand that the new viceroy restore their privileged position within the colonies. Caught between the two factions, Cisneros sided with the Creoles, particularly on the issue of trade. In November of 1809, he acceded to American demands to open Buenos Aires’ port to free trade. This action, aimed directly at the trading privileges of peninsular elites, heightened tensions between political rivals both in Buenos Aires and between the viceregal capital and European-controlled Montevideo. It also revealed the eroding political power of the viceregal office, now almost wholly dependent on Creole militias to maintain control in the capital. 12 The colonial apparatus was wobbling. In May of 1810, the rush of events in Spain finally knocked it over. News arrived in the Río de la Plata of the collapse of Spanish resistance on the peninsula and the disbandment of the Junta Central. Rumors swirled 12 Halperín Donghi, Rovolución y Guerra. 37
- Page 1 and 2: “MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDING
- Page 3 and 4: ABSTRACT This dissertation explores
- Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii ACKN
- Page 7 and 8: ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Like the wandering
- Page 9 and 10: Upon returning to the United States
- Page 11 and 12: INTRODUCTION IN EARLY 1828, A FRENC
- Page 13 and 14: Juan Manuel de Rosas and Facundo Qu
- Page 15 and 16: By moving between stories of law an
- Page 17 and 18: in the continental interior. They d
- Page 19 and 20: the fluid character of borderlands
- Page 21 and 22: and geographic conceptions. Extendi
- Page 23 and 24: local legal norms and practices in
- Page 25 and 26: that has greatly expanded the space
- Page 27 and 28: along rivertine trading corridors.
- Page 29 and 30: strains articulated by men like Art
- Page 31 and 32: Bringing the courts back into the s
- Page 33 and 34: of borderlands leaders to negotiate
- Page 35 and 36: Removing the old colonial order, ho
- Page 37 and 38: the city remained a sparsely popula
- Page 39 and 40: smugglers and other imperial outlaw
- Page 41 and 42: Imperial Collapse and Fragmentation
- Page 43 and 44: ivers, deserts and a few vagrant an
- Page 45: defend its possessions, peninsular
- Page 49 and 50: manufactured products for the Andea
- Page 51 and 52: The Paraguayan government proposed
- Page 53 and 54: Montevideo in January of 1811, he i
- Page 55 and 56: Ríos. From there, he continued to
- Page 57 and 58: easoning. 25 They had rejected the
- Page 59 and 60: military headquarters along the ban
- Page 61 and 62: sovereignty rooted in borderlands p
- Page 63 and 64: Artigas’ defeat did not spell the
- Page 65 and 66: economy. By 1822, the powerful merc
- Page 67 and 68: universal laws that would further r
- Page 69 and 70: Pedro abdicated the throne in 1831,
- Page 71 and 72: CHAPTER 2 THE (RE)EMERGENCE OF BORD
- Page 73 and 74: operate throughout the borderlands
- Page 75 and 76: and staple exports instead of the o
- Page 77 and 78: Ríos in particular witnessed a dra
- Page 79 and 80: goods as far north as the cities of
- Page 81 and 82: simmering struggles. By 1840, local
- Page 83 and 84: merchants, traders and landowners.
- Page 85 and 86: earning the faction’s colorado ti
- Page 87 and 88: Guarch’s deal with Carvalho revea
- Page 89 and 90: web of reciprocal relationships tha
- Page 91 and 92: the border in Brazil. In this way,
- Page 93 and 94: In short, over the course of a deca
- Page 95 and 96: that he had employed to first arran
French occupation and new king exploded throughout the peninsula. On 2 May 1808,<br />
crowds took to the streets in Madrid and confronted French troops. Within days, the<br />
popular uprisings had spread into a general revolt against the French. The Spanish<br />
resistance initially fragmented into a number of local representative bodies. It was soon<br />
consolidated into a new entity, the Junta Central, based in Seville. The opposition Spanish<br />
government struggled to resist the advancing French armies for the next year. By early 1810,<br />
however, Napoleon’s forces had driven the Spanish opposition from much of the peninsula.<br />
The rump of the Spanish resistance took refuge on the island-city of Cádiz under the<br />
protection of the British navy. 11<br />
From colonists’ perspective in the Americas, Spain appeared hopelessly lost. The<br />
growing power vacuum in the imperial core quickly triggered conflicts between rival factions<br />
in the Río de la Plata over who would rule in the name of the captured king. The majority of<br />
Creoles backed Liniers. Peninsular Spaniards, however, correctly sensed their traditional<br />
hold on power slipping away under the new viceroy. Utilizing their dominant position in<br />
Montevideo, European Spaniards rallied around Governor Francisco Javier Elío. Elío<br />
rejected viceregal authority and ordered the creation of a new junta to govern the Río de la<br />
Plata. Secretly, Elío also began to reach out to Princess Carlota, Fernando’s sister and wife<br />
of Portugal’s prince regent in Brazil. Carlota had proclaimed herself regent of Spain and the<br />
Indies, offering to rule in her brother’s absence. For Elío and the European Spaniards, the<br />
prospect of a new monarch offered a means to save their own declining position in the<br />
colonies. At the same time, however, it also meant subordinating the Río de la Plata entirely<br />
to the Portuguese crown. This was something the majority of American Spaniards decisively<br />
opposed. To avoid this, the peninsulares equally reached out to the Junta Central in Spain.<br />
<br />
11 Rodríguez O., The Independence of Spanish America, 49-82.<br />
36 <br />
Change language