The First Board was established on May 25, 1810
The First Government Board , known colloquially as the First Board , was established on May 25, 1810 in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata . It was the government formed after the victory of the May Revolution that allowed the removal of Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros , until then viceroy.
In the name of Ferdinand VII
The official name of the First Board was the Provisional Government Board of the Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the name of Mr. Don Fernando VII . As can be seen, the rulers continued to respond to Ferdinand VII , the king of Spain . The territories that made up the viceroyalty , in this way, were not yet independent.
Cornelio Saavedra was elected president of the First Board , which had Manuel Belgrano , Juan José Castelli , Juan Larrea , Domingo Matheu , Miguel de Azcuénaga and Manuel Alberti as members . The secretaries, meanwhile, were Mariano Moreno and Juan José Paso .
The establishment of the First Junta was based on the doctrine of the retroversion of the sovereignty of the people. This theory indicates that, in the absence of authority, the people must resume their sovereignty and govern. As Fernando VII was a prisoner of Napoleon Bonaparte and the people of Buenos Aires did not know the legitimacy of José Bonaparte (the monarch appointed by Napoleon ), the process that historians called the May Revolution was launched and which would be the first step towards independence. Argentina, proclaimed only in 1816 .
Upon Cisneros's arrest, Spanish officials resisted, and thus began the so-called counterrevolution . In the province of Buenos Aires, the Cabildo, Santiago de Liniers and the Audiencia were mainly opposed. The latter denied the validity of the First Junta, although its opinion was not very relevant since its members were also arrested and sent back to Spanish soil .
The works of the First Board
It is important to point out that this government carried out a work that is not inconsiderable. Some of the points to highlight are the following:
* On May 27, he announced to the representatives of the other provinces that he would be installed and offered them the opportunity to send deputies to be part of a Congress ;
* On May 28, it developed its regulations;
* He was responsible for the creation of the Gazeta de Buenos Aires , by decree. It was the first newspaper that served to carry out political propaganda;
* opened the Mariano Moreno National Library , the most important in the country, in the Buenos Aires Town Hall on a public basis. He also promoted the education of the little ones;
* dealt with the health of Argentine citizens and the needs of the continent's aboriginal peoples;
* The First Junta was also the point of origin of the Argentine Army itself, of the first naval unit and of the Department of Commerce and War;
* gave birth to the Military School of Mathematics , a center for young officers to train;
* opened new ports so that the export of national products would become more agile;
Monument to Manuel Belgrano, one of the main names of the First Junta
* supported the sale of land on the country's borders with the aim that more people could inhabit them and, in this way, the innumerable riches that Argentina's nature offers could be taken advantage of;
* gave the order to arrest Santiago de Liniers , the former viceroy, and detain Cisneros , the viceroy;
* He commissioned a diplomatic mission to Mariano Moreno in London;
* sent three expeditions: a helping one to Peru, a liberating one to the Banda Oriental and another to Paraguay.
A subway station
Currently, Primera Junta is the name of a subway (metro) station in the City of Buenos Aires , which is located in the Caballito neighborhood . On the surface, a small square has the same name.