Adolfo Alsina Maza (January 4, 1829 – December 29, 1877) was an
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
lawyer and
UnitarianUnitarianists were the proponents of the concept of a centralized government in Buenos Aires during the civil wars which shortly followed the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816...
politician, and one of the founders of the Partido Autonomista and the
National Autonomist PartyThe National Autonomist Party was an Argentine political party during the 1874-1916 period. Created on March 15, 1874 by the union of the Autonomista Party of Adolfo Alsina and the National party of Nicolás Avellaneda...
.
He was born in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
Son of the
UnitarianUnitarianists were the proponents of the concept of a centralized government in Buenos Aires during the civil wars which shortly followed the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816...
politician
Valentín Alsina*For the city, see Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires.Valentín Alsina was an Argentine lawyer and politician.Alsina was born in Buenos Aires and studied law in Córdoba. He occupied diverse posts in government and also had a successful civil career as an advocate and professor of law at the university...
and Antonia Maza (daughter of
Manuel Vicente MazaManuel Vicente Maza was an Argentine lawyer and federal politician.Even though Maza was born in Buenos Aires, he finished his university studies in Law at the Universidad de Santiago in Chile....
), Alsina moved to
MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
,
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
when
Juan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de Rosas , was a conservative Argentine politician who governed the Buenos Aires Province from 1829 to 1832 and again, from 1835 to 1852...
became Governor of
Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires Province is the most populous province of Argentina. Though it takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the latter is not part of the provincial territory; Buenos Aires is an autonomous city...
for the second time, in 1835.
In the neighbouring country Alsina started his law studies.
After the
Battle of CaserosThe Battle of Caseros was fought near the town of Caseros, more precisely between the present-day train stations of Caseros and Palomar in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 3 February 1852, between the Army of Buenos Aires commanded by Juan Manuel de Rosas...
in 1852, his family returned to Argentina, and his father was named a Minister by
presidentThe President of Argentina is the head of state of Argentina...
Vicente López y PlanesAlejandro Vicente López y Planes was an Argentine writer and politician who acted as interim President of Argentina from July 7 1827 to August 18 1827...
.
Adolfo finished law school and joined the Unitarian army in the civil war.
Adolfo Alsina Maza (January 4, 1829 – December 29, 1877) was an
ArgentineArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
lawyer and
UnitarianUnitarianists were the proponents of the concept of a centralized government in Buenos Aires during the civil wars which shortly followed the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816...
politician, and one of the founders of the Partido Autonomista and the
National Autonomist PartyThe National Autonomist Party was an Argentine political party during the 1874-1916 period. Created on March 15, 1874 by the union of the Autonomista Party of Adolfo Alsina and the National party of Nicolás Avellaneda...
.
He was born in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
Biography
Son of the
UnitarianUnitarianists were the proponents of the concept of a centralized government in Buenos Aires during the civil wars which shortly followed the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816...
politician
Valentín Alsina*For the city, see Valentín Alsina, Buenos Aires.Valentín Alsina was an Argentine lawyer and politician.Alsina was born in Buenos Aires and studied law in Córdoba. He occupied diverse posts in government and also had a successful civil career as an advocate and professor of law at the university...
and Antonia Maza (daughter of
Manuel Vicente MazaManuel Vicente Maza was an Argentine lawyer and federal politician.Even though Maza was born in Buenos Aires, he finished his university studies in Law at the Universidad de Santiago in Chile....
), Alsina moved to
MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
,
UruguayUruguay , is a country located in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to 3.46 million people, of whom 1.1 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area. An estimated 88–94% of the population are of mostly European and/or mixed descent.Uruguay's only land border is...
when
Juan Manuel de RosasJuan Manuel de Rosas , was a conservative Argentine politician who governed the Buenos Aires Province from 1829 to 1832 and again, from 1835 to 1852...
became Governor of
Buenos Aires ProvinceBuenos Aires Province is the most populous province of Argentina. Though it takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the latter is not part of the provincial territory; Buenos Aires is an autonomous city...
for the second time, in 1835.
In the neighbouring country Alsina started his law studies.
After the
Battle of CaserosThe Battle of Caseros was fought near the town of Caseros, more precisely between the present-day train stations of Caseros and Palomar in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina, on 3 February 1852, between the Army of Buenos Aires commanded by Juan Manuel de Rosas...
in 1852, his family returned to Argentina, and his father was named a Minister by
presidentThe President of Argentina is the head of state of Argentina...
Vicente López y PlanesAlejandro Vicente López y Planes was an Argentine writer and politician who acted as interim President of Argentina from July 7 1827 to August 18 1827...
.
Adolfo finished law school and joined the Unitarian army in the civil war. In 1860, after the
Battle of PavónThe Battle of Pavón was a key battle of the Argentina civil wars fought in Pavón, in Santa Fé Province, Argentina, on September 17, 1861, between the Army of Buenos Aires, commanded by Bartolomé Mitre, and the National Army, commanded by Justo José de Urquiza....
and the National Union Pact, he took part in the commission responsible for the
constitutionThe constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...
reform of 1860. He was elected a
deputyThe Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the National Congress, Argentina's parliament. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate.-Composition:It has 256 seats and...
in 1862.
When the subject of federalisation, supported by
Bartolomé MitreBartolomé Mitre Martinez was an Argentine statesman, military figure, and author. He was the President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868....
, was considered in the Chamber of Deputies, Alsina provoked a split in the Partido Unitario and founded the Partido Autonomista.
In 1866 he was elected governor of the Buenos Aires Province. Alsina considered running for president, but withdrew when he discovered he did not have the support of most of the province. Domingo Sarmiento was elected president, and named Alsina his
vice-president.
When the presidency of Sarmiento finished in 1874, Alsina joined
Nicolás AvellanedaNicolás Remigio Aurelio Avellaneda Silva was an Argentine politician and journalist, and president of Argentina from 1874 to 1880...
to create the Partido Autonomista Nacional, through which Avellaneda reached the presidency and named Alsina Minister of War and Navy.
At the end of 1875, the
Native AmericansThe indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples...
of
PatagoniaPatagonia is a geographic region containing the southernmost portion of South America. Located in Argentina and Chile, it comprises the southernmost portion of the Andes mountains to the west and south, and plateaux and low plains to the east. The name Patagonia comes from the word patagón used by...
and the
PampaThe Pampas are the fertile South American lowlands that include the Argentine provinces of Buenos Aires, La Pampa, Santa Fe, and Córdoba, most of Uruguay, and the southernmost end of Brazil, the Rio Grande do Sul, covering more than...
s, especially the
MapucheThe Mapuche are the indigenous inhabitants of Central and Southern Chile and Southern Argentina. They were known as Araucanians by the Spaniards. This is now considered pejorative by the people and the term Mapuche is the one most often used by people in conversation...
, launched organised attacks against the territorial expansion of the southern border of the emerging nation'. The first stage of the
Conquest of the DesertThe Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples....
began with the creation of a two meter deep, three meter wide trench called
zanja de AlsinaZanja de Alsina were a system of trenches and fortifications built in the centre and south of the Buenos Aires Province to defend the territories of the federal government against Mapuche malónes. The trench was named after Adolfo Alsina, Argentine Minister of War under President Nicolás...
to prevent the free movement of horses and stolen cattle.
Alsina also ordered the creation of forts intercommunicated by telegraph.
Trying to understand the native peoples, he decided to study the situation personally; but he fell ill while in the pampas town of
CarhuéCarhué is an Argentine town in the Province of Buenos Aires, head of the Municipality of Adolfo Alsina. Carhué is about 561 km to the west of the city of La Plata and about 520 km from Buenos Aires...
, and died of
kidneyThe kidneys are paired organs, which have the production of urine as their primary function. Kidneys are seen in many types of animals, including vertebrates and some invertebrates. They are part of the urinary system, but have several secondary functions concerned with homeostatic functions. ...
failure.