Primera Junta

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The First Junta or Primera Junta was the first government that appeared in Argentina after the May Revolution. The government was located in El Fuerte (Spanish: the fort), which had been used since 1776 as a residence by the viceroys. The Casa Rosada has been erected on this location.

The principles that the May Revolution proclaimed were:

Popular sovereignty
Principle of representativeness and federalization
Division of powers and duration of the mandates
Publication of the government's actions

Contents

1 Primera Junta Members
2 Duration
3 Actions
4 Junta's End

Primera Junta Members

President

* Cornelio Saavedra

Secretaries:

* Mariano Moreno

* Juan José Paso

Vocals

* Manuel Alberti

* Miguel de Azcuenaga

* Manuel Belgrano

* Juan José Castelli

* Domingo Matheu

* Juan Larrea

This Junta governed in the name of the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII, but some members such as Moreno, wanted to cut ties once and for all with that country.

Duration

Created on May 25, 1810, it was replaced on December 18 of the same year by the Junta Grande.

Actions

Invited the provinces to send deputies to participate in a Congress.
Created La Gazeta de Buenos Aires by a decree, making it the first newspaper to be used for political propaganda criolla.
Founded the Public Library and fomented primary education.
Attended native Americans needs and population health care.
Created the first Navy Squad and the Army.
Created the Deparment of Commerce and War. (Spanish: Departamento de Comercio y Guerra)
Opened the Militar School of Mathematics (Spanish: Escuela Militar de Matemática)
Opened new ports to speed up exportation of products.
Promoted the selling of lands in border zones, to incentivate population of the whole territory and take advantage of the natural resources.
Ordered the detention of the viceroy Cisneros.
Ordered the arrest of Santiago de Liniers.
Send Mariano Moreno in a diplomatic mission to London.

Junta's End

The active secretary of the Junta, Mariano Moreno, was relegating president Cornelio Saveedra to a second plane. Militian authorities, fearing on this lost of power by Saaverdra, pressured to relegate Moreno. Moreno, on the other hand, succeeded on the approval of decrees that limited Saavedra and others. On December, 1810, when tension was reaching its peak, Saavedra succeeded in getting the support by the deputies of the provices from the interior of country and gave Moreno a political setback, which forced him to present his resignation on December 18th. With this resignation, the integration of the deputies from the other provinces to the new government became possible. Thus the Primera Junta was dissolved and was replaced by the Junta Grande.

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