Chilean History: Governing Boards, National Congress, and the Rise of the Republic
Governing Boards and the National Congress
Governing Board, September 18, 1810: Mateo de Toro y Zambrano (President), Jose Martinez de Aldunate (Chairman), Fdo. Marquez de la Plata, Juan Martinez de Rozas, Ignacio de la Carrera, Juan Enrique Rosales and Fco. Javier de Reina (vocals), and Gregory Gaspar Marin Argomedo (Secretary). National Congress, July 4, 1811. Government Board, 1813. Campaigns in 1813 and 1814 led to the Disaster of Rancagua. Government under Osorio. Tribunal of Vindication: accuracy, seizure of property, obligatory contributions, and Patriot exile. Under Marco Del Ponte: extra taxes, persecution, and torture fueled hatred. Other actions included the formation of the Talaveras battalion, internal closures, the establishment of the National Library, the opening of the University and Royal Audience of San Felipe, and the liberalization of trade. Rodri and Montoneros emerged as notable figures.
February 12, 1817: Chabunco. April 5: Maipu. O’Higgins became Director Supreme. Campaigns in 1817 led to subsidies for Chile and the establishment of the Military School. Declaration of Independence: February 12, 1818, at Cancha Rayada, followed by the triumph at Maipu. Establishment of the National School. First and Second Navy Squadrons under Lord Cochrane. Ramon Freire (Director Supreme from 1823 to 1826). Under Juan Egaña, the Moralist Constitution of 1823 was drafted, establishing a Director Supreme for four years, a permanent conservative senate, and a national chamber/special convention, leading to conflict. Suffrage was based on census and obligatory Catholic religion.
(Battles of Pudeto and Bellavista in Chiloe). Manuel Blanco Encalada (1826 to 1827) with Manuel Infante tested federalism in 1826: President elected by popular vote in provincial assemblies, amending local government (Intendants as local governors). Congress functioned through provincial assemblies (12 to 14 deputies). Suffrage was census-based. Economic, political, and geographical problems arose, including the Atacama and Biobio regions without Araucania. Chile remained centralist. Francisco Antonio Pinto (1828-1829, Liberal Constitution of 1828) with Melchor Concha Mora and JJ: President elected indirectly every 5 years without re-election, replaced by a vice president. National Congress and one chamber of deputies. Extended suffrage. Religion: Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman with religious tolerance. Conflict: re-election, election of a liberal vice president, leading to Lircay in 1830, and the rise of the conservative Portales, with Jose Tomas Ovalle as the first president (1830-1831).
The Conservative or Authoritarian Republic (1830-1861)
Portales and Cea aimed to amortize (pay taxes), leading to tight control over snuff and cards. Portales served as Minister of Interior and Foreign Affairs. Manuel Rengifo as Minister of Estate changed taxes. Bulnes addressed the Pincheira issue in 1832. J.J. Prieto Vial served as President of the Republic (1831-1841). The Egaña Constitution of 1883, with Mario and Gandarillas (effective 1925, with improvements), established a President with 5-year terms, appointed ministers and public officials (mayors through an electoral system), interfered in the appointment of judges and commanders of the Armed Forces, and had extraordinary powers, including internal control, the power to veto laws passed by Congress, and the exercise of patronage. The Chamber of Deputies and Senate issued decrees and regulations to apply laws, enacted laws, and questioned periodicals. Ministerial census rating. State and independent religion: Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman without tolerance (re-established tithe). Civic Guard: armed body (under Portales). In 1836, Chile declared war on the Peru-Bolivian Confederation (CPB) due to the Irrisari loan and Andres Santa Cruz (quarterback) helping Freire, creating commercial rivalry between Valparaiso and Callao. December 28: conflict with CPB. January 20, 1839: Bulnes wins the Battle of Yungay. Portales dies due to a liberal conspiracy (June 6, 1837).
Manuel Bulnes (1841-1851) implemented a colonization law. Selection in 1845: Bernardo Philippi and Vicente Perez Rosales (Columbus) brought 95 Germans. In 1852, Hamburg immigrants arrived in Melipulli and Valdivia. Effective possession of Magellan in 1843 by Juan Williams. Debts ended with Manuel Rengifo. The discovery of the Chañarcillo silver mine in 1832 by Juan Godoy, and the California and Australia gold rushes boosted wheat production. The University of Chile was founded in 1842, and Punta Arenas in 1844. Manuel Montt (1852-1861) oversaw the construction of the Copiapo-Caldera railway (1851). In 1855, the Civil Code by Andres Bello was enacted. In 1860, a law was passed granting primary investigative authority. In 1856, the Sacristan question, involving Rafael Valdivieso and Pedro Valentin Santalices, divided the conservatives (1857). The era concludes with the rise of the Liberal Republic.