Junta (Spanish American Independence) Explained

Junta (pronounced as /es/) 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

YearDateNamePlaceCurrent CountryHeads of Junta
1808August 5Junta 1808 MéxicoViceroyalty of Nueva SpainMéxico
Francisco Primo de Verdad
Melchor de Talamantes
José de Iturrigaray
1808September 21 Junta de MontevideoViceroyalty of the Río de la PlataUruguay
Francisco Javier de Elío
1809May 25Junta of ChuquisacaViceroyalty of the Río de la PlataBolivia
Bernardo de Monteagudo
Jaime de Zudáñez
1809July 16 Junta Tuitiva (created by La Paz revolution)Viceroyalty of the Río de la PlataBolivia
Pedro Murillo
1809August 10 Junta of QuitoViceroyalty of New GranadaEcuador
Juan Pío Montúfar
1810April 19 Junta Suprema de CaracasCaptaincy General of VenezuelaVenezuela
José de las Llamozas
Martín Tovar Ponte
1810May 22 Junta de CartagenaViceroyalty of New GranadaColombia
José María García de Toledo
1810May 25 Primera Junta de Buenos AiresViceroyalty of the Río de la PlataArgentina
Cornelio Saavedra
Mariano Moreno/Juan José Paso
Juan José Castelli/Miguel de Azcuénaga/Manuel Belgrano/Manuel Alberti/Domingo Matheu/Juan Larrea
1810July 3 Junta extraordinaria de Santiago de CaliViceroyalty of New GranadaColombia
Joaquín de Caycedo y Cuero
1810July 20 Junta de Santa FeViceroyalty of New GranadaColombia
Francisco José de Caldas
Camilo Torres
1810September 16 (created after the Grito de Dolores)Viceroyalty of New SpainMéxico
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
1810September 18 Government Junta of Chile (1810)Captaincy General of ChileChile
1811February 27 (created after the Cry of Asencio)Viceroyalty of the Río de la PlataUruguay
Pedro José Viera
Venancio Benavides
1811May 15 Junta del ParaguayViceroyalty of the Río de la PlataParaguay
Pedro Caballero
Fulgencio Yegros
Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia
1811November 5 Primera Junta de San Salvador, in 1811 Independence MovementCaptaincy General of GuatemalaEl Salvador
José Matías Delgado
Manuel José Arce
Pedro Pablo Castillo
Juan Manuel Rodríguez
1814August 3Junta de Gobierno del CuzcoViceroyalty of PerúPerú
Mateo Pumacahua
Domingo Luis Astete
Tomás Moscoso
Hermanos Angulo

See also

References