Bartolomé Mitre
Bartolomé Mitre | |
|---|---|
| Born | Error: Invalid birth date for calculating age Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Died | January 19, 1906 (aged 84) |
| Occupation(s) | Military leader, politician, author, journalist, historian, poet |
| Years active | 1839–1906 |
| Known for | President of Argentina (1862–1868), founder of La Nación newspaper |
Bartolomé Mitre (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine military leader, politician, and author who held the office of President of Argentina from 1862 until 1868, becoming the inaugural president of the unified nation.
Mitre was a multifaceted figure—statesman, soldier, journalist, historian, poet, and writer—playing a pivotal role in Argentina's nineteenth-century development. He represented Argentine liberalism through a practical and moderate stance rather than rigid ideology.
Early life
Born on 26 June 1821 in Buenos Aires to a family of Greek origins originally named Mitropoulos, Mitre’s family relocated to Uruguay in 1831. There he completed his education at the Military School of Montevideo, graduating in 1839 as a second lieutenant in artillery. Alongside his military career, he engaged in journalism and supported Fructuoso Rivera, who promoted him to lieutenant colonel within the Uruguayan Army by 1846.
Mitre aligned with the Colorado Party (Uruguay) during civil conflicts against the Blancos and backed the unitario faction opposing the Rosista government in Buenos Aires. His early poetic and journalistic contributions appeared in Uruguayan publications. Subsequently, he moved to Bolivia and Chile, where he encountered Argentine exile Juan Bautista Alberdi; both contributed to El Comercio in Valparaíso and later to El Progreso in Santiago under the editorship of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.
End of exile and return to Argentina
Following the defeat of caudillo Juan Manuel de Rosas at the 1852 Battle of Caseros, Mitre returned to Argentina. He spearheaded the Buenos Aires Province uprising against Justo José de Urquiza's federal system during the Revolution of 11 September 1852, subsequently securing influential provincial government positions after Buenos Aires seceded from the Argentine Confederation.
Presidency (1861–1868)
After Buenos Aires suffered defeat at the 1859 Battle of Cepeda, it rejoined the Confederation with customs revenue disputes resolved. Mitre’s triumph at the 1861 Battle of Pavón ensured important concessions, including constitutional reforms allowing indirect presidential elections through an electoral college. Elected president in October 1862, he fostered national political consolidation and enacted reforms. During the Paraguayan War, Mitre initially took command of allied forces.
In 1870, he established La Nación, which became a leading newspaper in South America. Opposing Autonomist Party candidate Adolfo Alsina, whom he regarded as a covert Buenos Aires separatist, Mitre sought another presidential term but was outmaneuvered by Alsina’s candidate, Nicolás Avellaneda. The 1874 electoral college granted Mitre support only from three provinces, including Buenos Aires.
Mitre attempted to prevent Avellaneda's inauguration by seizing a gunboat but was defeated; Avellaneda later pardoned him. After the 1890 Revolution of the Park, Mitre distanced himself from the conservative National Autonomist Party (PAN) and co-founded the Civic Union alongside reformist leader Leandro Alem. Internal disagreements led to a split in 1891: Mitre founded the National Civic Union, while Alem established the Radical Civic Union, which remains Argentina's oldest political party.
In his later years, Mitre concentrated on literary work. Although regarded as an influential historian, critics contend that his narratives omitted significant events, leading figures such as student Adolfo Saldías and later revisionist historians like José María Rosa to challenge his historical interpretations. He also authored poetry and fiction (Soledad: novela original) and translated Dante’s La divina commedia into Spanish. Mitre was grandfather to poet Margarita Abella Caprile and was affiliated with freemasonry, as were many prominent Argentines of the nineteenth century.
Death and legacy
Bartolomé Mitre passed away in 1906 due to a gastrointestinal ailment. His funeral attracted an extraordinary number of attendees, underscoring his reputation as a compelling leader, with the cortege proceeding from his residence to La Recoleta Cemetery.
Mitre embodied the archetype of the 19th-century Argentine statesman. He was a staunch supporter of the ideals stemming from the May Revolution and eloquently expressed the doctrines of the Freedom Party, Argentina’s inaugural political organization to adopt a definitive liberal platform. This party's agenda merged the democratic progressivism championed by Esteban Echeverría, seeking to bridge the historical divide between unitarians and federalists.
As a scholar, Mitre made significant contributions across literature and historical studies through his poetry, theatrical works, biographies, translations, and journalistic efforts. He remained an influential presence in both political and cultural spheres until his death.
He was an advocate for universal direct suffrage, a reform that came into effect in 1912 during President Roque Sáenz Peña’s administration.
When Mitre assumed the presidency in 1862, he faced a fragile nation: an empty treasury, considerable debts, fragmented national authority, absence of dedicated government offices separate from provincial control, unresolved status of Buenos Aires as the capital, poorly compensated military forces, and an underdeveloped public bureaucracy. His government concentrated on essential reforms including education, immigration policies, foreign capital attraction, railway expansion, and land development—critical elements in Argentina’s path toward modernization.
Explorer Sir Richard Burton commended Mitre’s financial honesty:
Robert Avrett encapsulated Mitre’s diverse career as:
Bibliography
Recognized as a prominent South American historian, Mitre is renowned for his comprehensive narratives on independence wars in the region. His principal publications encompass:
- Historia de Belgrano y de la independencia argentina (1857; fifth edition in four volumes, 1902)
- Historia de San Martín y de la emancipación sudamericana (1869; third edition spanning six volumes, 1907)
- Rimas (new edition released in 1890)
- Ulrich Schmidl, primer historiador del Rio de la Plata (1890)
An abbreviated English version of Historia de San Martín, entitled The Emancipation of South America (London, 1893), was translated by W. Pilling. Additionally, Mitre’s orations were compiled under the title Arengas (third edition in three volumes, 1902).
References
- J. J. Biedma, El Teniente General Bartolomé Mitre, included in Bartolomé Mitre’s Arengas, volume iii (Buenos Aires, 1902)
- William H. Katra, The Argentine Generation of 1837: Echeverría, Alberdi, Sarmiento, Mitre (Madison, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1996)
External links
- Commons category: Bartolomé Mitre
- Wikisource author page
- Project Gutenberg author page: Bartolomé Mitre
- Internet Archive author page: Bartolomé Mitre
- Librivox author page: Bartolomé Mitre