Internal Factors & Background of the Buenos Aires Revolution

Internal Causes

During the viceroyalty, foreign trade was monopolized by Spain, and legally, Buenos Aires was not allowed to trade with other powers. This situation was highly disadvantageous to Buenos Aires, since Spain minimized sending ships bound for that city. This decision of the mother country was due to piracy, which forced them to send their ships to trade with a strong military escort. As Buenos Aires had no resources of gold or silver, or indigenous peoples available from which to obtain resources or subject to the encomienda system, sending convoys of ships to the city was much less profitable than if they were sent to Mexico City or Lima. Since the goods arriving from the metropolis were scarce and expensive, and insufficient to maintain the population, there was a great development of smuggling. This situation was often observed by most local rulers. The illicit trade reached similar amounts authorized to trade with Spain.^[2] In this context, two distinct groups of power formed in the oligarchy of Buenos Aires: the ranchers, who claimed free trade to export their products better (mainly leather; meat was not yet an exportable product internationally as there were no techniques that could keep it frozen for extended periods), and smugglers and traders, who rejected free trade because products entering legally would decrease their profits.

In the polity, especially since the founding of the Viceroyalty of the Rio de la Plata, the exercise of resident institutions rested with officials appointed by the crown, almost exclusively Spanish from Europe, not related to the issues and American interests. Legally, there was no social class differentiation between the Spanish mainland and the viceroyalty, but in practice, the most important positions were held by those from the mainland. The native bourgeoisie, strengthened by the revival of trade and influenced by new ideas, waited for the opportunity to access political leadership.

Background to Revolution

After the victory over the English invasions, the population of Buenos Aires did not accept that the Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte resume his position, as during the attack he had fled the city to Cordoba with the exchequer. While Sobremonte was obeying a law that dated back to Pedro de Cevallos, indicating that in case of foreign attack funds should be moved, such action made him appear like a coward in the eyes of the population.[4] Instead, the new viceroy was Santiago de Liniers, hero of the Reconquest, elected by popular acclaim.

However, the management of Liniers began to receive questions. The main political adversary of Liniers, the governor of Montevideo, Francisco Javier Elio, filed a complaint about the French origin of Liniers: he argued that it was unacceptable that a compatriot of Napoleon Bonaparte, at war with Spain at the time, take office. However, despite the claims, Elio could not provide concrete evidence that the viceroy was plotting with the French. Elio refused to recognize the authority of Liniers and formed a government in Montevideo, independent of Buenos Aires.