WIP

San Martin Thought

Beliefs

Revolution and Independence

San Martín abjured absolutism and the divine right of sovereigns and, instead, shared the ideology of the Enlightenment based on the freedom and equality of people. From this derives his adherence to the May Revolution and his decision to join the patriot cause.

Of course, in the complex context of the time, ideas can make their way in the intricate terrain of politics mixed with war. The Lodge to which he belonged – liberal in inspiration – advocated moving towards a design closer to an attenuated constitutional monarchy than to North American republicanism.

Along these lines, San Martín supported the initiative that Manuel Belgrano presented in the Congress of Tucumán to restore the Inca heritage, while Bernardino Rivadavia continued to search in Europe for a blue-blooded nobleman willing to reign in La Plata, an alternative that he himself San Martín later explored in Peru. This is stated in one of his letters to Bernardo O'Higgins: "I think that V. will be convinced of the impossibility of erecting these countries into republics."

This same position appears in one of the letters that he sent to Tomás Godoy Cruz, deputy for Mendoza in the Congress of Tucumán, so that they speed up the declaration of independence: "Can we establish ourselves as a Republic without formal opposition from Brazil (well, to be honest, is not a very good neighbor for a monarchical country), without arts, sciences, agriculture, population, and with an extension of land that can more properly be called desert?

In another letter, he discovers other fears before the Mendoza deputy: "I die every time I hear about the Federation!", and adds: "If with all the provinces and their resources we are weak, what will happen to us isolated each one of them" .

Americanist Vision

His conception of the independence enterprise was continental. He fervently believed in building a great homeland; He did not understand the freedom of peoples or the solidity of governments except as a phenomenon on a South American scale. That, for the time, was pure progress.

This vision placed him at the greatest crossroads of his life, when he had to decide between abiding by the dictates of the Lodge and obeying the orders of the government of Buenos Aires, which urged him to return together with the Army of the Andes, or to continue with his continental strategy, a decision that brought harsh criticism and defamation.

In Peru, in 1822, he put it into words: "It's been a while since I don't belong to myself but to the cause of the American continent." That Americanist thought was not very different from Simón Bolívar. They did not understand each other for other reasons, but not because they disagreed that the new nations would only survive to the extent that they could integrate a great American community.

Without being able to conclude the war – his greatest obsession – he ended public life and went into exile.

National Union

References to national unity abound in San Martin's correspondence: “Let's unite, my countryman, to beat the maturrangos who threaten us: divided we will be slaves; United, I'm sure we'll beat them; let's make an effort of patriotism, let's lay down particular resentments and conclude our work of honor. My saber will never come out of the scabbard for political opinions”, he wrote to Estanislao López in 1819, when the internal war was burning.

He did not endorse Rivadavian unitarism. He disliked Rivadavia and the recalcitrant porteñismo, although he did not adhere to federalism as proposed by the provincial caudillos either. Although he maintained good relations with all of them, he did not want to get involved in that fratricidal war.

In 1829, after Rivadavia fell out of favor and Manuel Dorrego seized power, he attempted an unsuccessful comeback. When he arrived at the Río de la Plata, he found that Lavalle had overthrown and shot Dorrego. Then, in response to the government's invitation to disembark, he protested: "In view of the state our country is in and, on the other hand, not belonging nor should I belong to any of the parties in question, I have resolved to go to Montevideo for that purpose." , from which point I will direct my wishes for the prompt restoration of concord”.

Convinced that, as things were, his presence could contribute nothing, he turned around to never return.

European Exile

In Europe, he remained in contact with the Argentine political process, whether it was receiving and dispatching correspondence or meeting visitors with notables and former comrades.

The last 15 years of his life coincide with the second and extended mandate of Juan Manuel de Rosas. When assessing the management of the strong man of the Confederation, he privileged his uncompromising defense of sovereignty over any other issue. In 1838, due to the French blockade, he placed himself at the service of the Argentine government and, years later, bequeathed his legendary curved saber to the Restorer.

He celebrated the feat of the Vuelta de Obligado and, later, the lifting of the English blockade, openly congratulating Rosas: "Your triumphs are a great comfort to my ailing old age (...), this satisfaction is all the more complete when the honor of the The country has had nothing to suffer and, on the contrary, presents a model to follow for all the new American states”, language that inflamed opponents of the regime.

He also kept a watchful eye on the evolution of nascent capitalism. When the commune movement took place, the revolt that shook Paris in 1848, he decided to move to peaceful Boulogne Sur Mer. In a letter from that time, he alludes to "the appalling misery of millions of proletarians, aggravated today by the paralysis of industry, the withdrawal of capital in view of an uncertain future, the probability of a civil war due to the clash of ideas and parties.

The best Government

Despite the fact that the life of the Father of the Nation went through very different stages, which included a European journey, another American and a prolonged passivity once again European, his thought did not change over the years, just enough to adapt it to the changing circumstances of that historical time.

We close this brief review with one of the most revealing phrases of his political convictions: "The best government is not the most liberal in its principles, but the one that ensures the happiness of those who obey using the appropriate means for this purpose."

Personality

Jose de San Martín He was brave, detached in matters of money, sober in eating and drinking (...). He was simple and opposed to ostentation in dress, decidedly withdrawn and not tempted by pomp or pomp.

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Frenemies

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Gallery

Furter Information

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Battle_of_Cancha_Rayada Second Battle of Cancha Rayada]

Youtube

Bibliography

Lynch, John. San Martin: Argentine Soldier, American Hero
Lynch, John. The Spanish American Revolutions 1808–1826 (2nd ed. 1986)
Abad de Santillán, Diego (1965). *Historia Argentina (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: TEA (Tipográfica Editora Argentina).
Camogli, Pablo; de Privitellio, Luciano (2005). Batallas por la Libertad (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Aguilar.
Galasso, Norberto (2000). Seamos libres y lo demás no importa nada [Let us be free and nothing else matters] (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Colihue.
Mayochi, Enrique Mario. "San Martín visto por los artistas" [San Martín saw by artists] (in Spanish). San Martín National Institute.

Other Information

el pensamiento politico de san martin

San Martin Thought

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