The congress of Tucumán and its message always renewed

Few, very few have made the impossible possible.

"When do you start meeting you?" For the holiest, I beg you: "Make every effort to protect the human, to ensure our fate." All provinces are waiting for the decisions of this Congress, until when should we wait to declare independence? Is not it ridiculous to strike money, have a national flag and a national flag, and finally make war on the sovereign who is said to depend on …? "

Nothing better than those Words of San Martín in a letter to his friend Tomás Godoy -Emulate the most acute Cicero in his first Catilinaria-, full of humanity, of humility and firmness, in order to synthesize the hopes of a whole people of the great Congress who would lead us to our meeting with the 39; history.

On March 24, 1816, in the famous city of Tucumán, he began his sessions the hope of the free peoples. It was the last breath of the May Revolution which, weakened, seemed permanently lost; it was the last anchor thrown in the middle of the storm.

The revolution of April 15, 1815 had overthrown Alvear of power and had dissolved the Assembly of the thirteenth year. In addition, he had imposed on the new, compulsory government the convening of a general congress. Realizing this imposition, the director sent circulars to the provinces inviting them to meet in congress. Rarely has a national congress been convened in front of a sky covered with threatening clouds of pessimism and uncertainty: the revolution of all America wavered.

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In Mexico, it was extinguished with the fall of the priest José María Morelos y Pavón. In Venezuela and the Viceroyalty of New Granada, the royalists had broken the resistance of the patriots and Bolivar had fled to Jamaica. In Chile, the realistic reaction forced O. Higgins to seek refuge in Mendoza. The Sipe Sipe disaster (November 1815) opened a breach in the northern border and the invasion of Jujuy and Salta. The Spanish expedition of the reconquistadora seemed to materialize with the fall of the Napoleonic star in Europe and the Holy Alliance threatened together the European and American peoples. Portuguese imperialist policy has not ceased in its objectives of occupation of the Eastern Banda. In contrast, the inner front had deep and frightening cracks.

The caudillismo had initiated its action and its leaders challenged the supremacy. The triumph of Artigas in the Litoral and "Your ideas against common interests", in the words of Emilio Ravignani, lit the fire of the civil war.

From the economic point of view, the paralysis of trade with Chile and the North has had consequences. Santa Fe was ravaged by raids and raids on the part of the Royalist squadron. Jujuy and Salta have been added to the list of desolate provinces. The silence of Buenos Aires in front of its sisters who have suffered has exacerbated the mood against the centralism of Buenos Aires.

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Although many provincial representatives are unknown, they have been chosen among the most respectable and honest in each province and among those with the best intellectual preparation. They were essentially lawyers and priests who, on other occasions, had shown civic virtue and showed great fervor for the American cause. The provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Santa Fe and Banda Oriental lacked representation. The separatist influence of Artigas is concretized by a kind of federal congress in the town of Paysandú. Among other things, two fundamental problems moved men on whom would fall a transcendent victory or disgust of a bitter defeat: the declaration of independence and the form of government.

Despite the apparent agreement, the disunity of the representatives was obvious. Three defined groups held back action in the Assembly. The first, integrated by the deputies of Buenos Aires, has brandished the characteristic centralism of Buenos Aires. The second, led by representatives of Córdoba, has agglutinated some provinces. The third was composed of the deputies of Upper Peru (Chuquisaca, Mizque and Cochabamba). Localism had not yet been banished, long and bloody internal struggles were coming.

Belgrano, recently arrived from a diplomatic mission in London, explained to the Congress – at a special and secret session on July 6 – the situation in Europe and agreed with San Martin of the need to declare the & # 39; 39 independence as quickly as possible in order to gain respectability of the new international order. For the latter, it was essential because it opened the doors of his liberating crusade.

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All the aspirations of the historic Congress have not been successful, but the realization of one of them deserves the reverence, the admiration and the respect of all the following generations for those who, without arrogance, without vanity and without personal ambitions, brought us into the world. concert of nations: independence. They prioritized a higher interest. Several years later, Borges reminded us that "… nobody is the homeland, but we are all".

These men were humanly great, without smallness they worked for history. The achievements were inferior to his dreams, but they knew, in the middle of the storm, to lead the ship of Argentina then in pain towards the reality of which we are proud today. The image of the Congress of Tucumán, July 9, 1816 which was fixed forever, was, so to speak, a perennial moment. That day, thirty patriots demonstrated this policy can be the art of making it impossible possible.