Junta (Spanish American Independence)

Junta (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxunta]) during Spanish American independence was the type of self government as patriotic alternative to the central government of Spain during the first phase of Spanish American wars of independence. The formation of juntas was usually an urban movement. Most juntas were created out of the already-existing ayuntamientos (municipal councils) with the addition of other prominent members of society.

Overview

Juntas emerged in Spanish America as a result of Spain facing a political crisis due to the kidnapping and abdication of Ferdinand VII and Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion. Spanish Americans reacted in much the same way the Peninsular Spanish did, legitimizing their actions through traditional law, which held that there was a retroversion of the sovereignty to the people in the absence of a legitimate king.

Once adopted the same principle of Popular sovereignty in the Spanish Empire there was a conflict between those who wanted the unity or the independence. The juntas were declared illegal by the governments of Spain. The Spanish government deny him absolutely no legitimacy and fought for preserve the integrity of the Spanish monarchy. The juntas did not accept the Spanish regency, which was under siege in the city of Cadiz. They also rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812.

The juntas in the Americas did not accept the governments of the Europeans, neither the government set up for Spain by the French nor the various Spanish governments set up in response to the French invasion. The majority of Spanish Americans continued to support the idea of maintaining several independent monarchies under Ferdinand VII, but did not support retaining absolutism. In the end, the triumph of the republican ideas such as Bolivar's were imposed over Constitutional monarchy as San Martin's proposed.

Chronology

Year Date Name Place Current country Heads of Junta
1808 August 5 Junta 1808 México Viceroyalty of Nueva Spain  Mexico Francisco Primo de Verdad
Melchor de Talamantes
José de Iturrigaray
1808 September 21 Junta de Montevideo Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Uruguay Francisco Javier de Elío
1809 May 25 Junta of Chuquisaca Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Bolivia Bernardo de Monteagudo
Jaime de Zudáñez
1809 July 16 Junta Tuitiva (created by La Paz revolution) Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Bolivia Pedro Murillo
1809 August 10 Junta of Quito Viceroyalty of New Granada  Ecuador Juan Pío Montúfar
1810 April 19 Junta Suprema de Caracas Captaincy General of Venezuela  Venezuela José de las Llamozas
Martín Tovar Ponte
1810 May 22 Junta de Cartagena Viceroyalty of New Granada  Colombia José María García de Toledo
1810 May 25 Primera Junta de Buenos Aires Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Argentina Cornelio Saavedra
Mariano Moreno/Juan José Paso
Juan José Castelli/Miguel de Azcuénaga/Manuel Belgrano/Manuel Alberti/Domingo Matheu/Juan Larrea
1810 July 3 Junta extraordinaria de Santiago de Cali Viceroyalty of New Granada  Colombia Joaquín de Caycedo y Cuero
1810 July 20 Junta de Santa Fe Viceroyalty of New Granada  Colombia Francisco José de Caldas
Camilo Torres
1810 September 16 (created after the Grito de Dolores) Viceroyalty of New Spain  Mexico Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
1810 September 18 Government Junta of Chile (1810) Captaincy General of Chile  Chile Juan Martínez de Rozas
Mateo de Toro y Zambrano
1811 February 27 (created after the Cry of Asencio) Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Uruguay Pedro José Viera
Venancio Benavides
1811 May 15 Junta del Paraguay Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata  Paraguay Pedro Caballero
Fulgencio Yegros
Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
1811 November 5 Primera Junta de San Salvador, in 1811 Independence Movement Captaincy General of Guatemala  El Salvador José Matías Delgado
Manuel José Arce
Pedro Pablo Castillo
Juan Manuel Rodríguez
1814 August 3 Junta de Gobierno del Cuzco Viceroyalty of Peru  Peru Mateo Pumacahua
Domingo Luis Astete
Tomás Moscoso
Hermanos Angulo

See also

References

  • John Lynch. The Spanish American Revolutions, 1808–1826 (2nd edition). New York, W. W. Norton & Company, 1986. ISBN 0-393-95537-0