Confrontations in the Argentine Congress during state formation (1862-1880): Provincial politicians, national authorities, and the public sphere of Buenos Aires

Abstract

The paper analyses physical and verbal confrontations that unfolded in the Argentine Congress during the process of state formation, to understand the connections between those altercations and other dimensions of the political conflict of the time. In the mid-nineteenth century, Argentina was organised as a representative and federal republic. Congress became then the incarnation of the federation, the place where the representatives of all the districts met, and where congressmen regularly questioned Cabinet members. Focusing on those episodes, it examines how congressmen related to each other, the Executive, the public that followed the sessions in the Chamber, and the press. It takes into consideration drawings, pictures, photomechanical prints, lithographs, and cartoons of the Legislative and its members that provided a visual experience of Congress and affected its legitimacy.