Justo José de Urquiza

Justo José de Urquiza (born Oct. 18, 1801, Arroyo Urquiza, Río de la Plata [now in Argentina]—died April 11, 1870, Entre Ríos, Arg.) was a soldier and statesman who overthrew the powerful Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas and laid the constitutional foundations of modern Argentina.

A member of the Argentine oligarchy, Urquiza was educated at the College of San Carlos in Buenos Aires, from which he graduated in 1816. He early acquired both business and political experience. In 1818 he was employed in the port of Buenos Aires; after returning to Entre Ríos in June 1819 he served as a business agent. His family’s relations with the dictator Francisco Ramírez enabled Urquiza to enter politics. He was active in the political life of his native province for many years before he went to Buenos Aires as the agent of Pascual Eschagüe, the governor of Entre Ríos. In the capital Urquiza became a confidant of the dictator Rosas. Made a colonel in 1837, he replaced his patron Eschagüe as governor of Entre Ríos in 1841.

As governor Urquiza made himself supreme in Entre Ríos by suppressing all other military forces within the province. He then proceeded to break the military power of the governor of Corrientes. Besides bringing order to his province, he encouraged fiscal and administrative reform in the province’s government and educational reform in the schools.

Using Entre Ríos as a powerful base and forming an alliance with lesser provincial chieftains, Urquiza revolted against Rosas, defeating him in February 1852 at the Battle of Monte Caseros. In April 1852 he issued the Protocol of Palermo, which authorized him to regulate relations between the provinces. As provisional dictator of Argentina, in August 1852 he summoned to Santa Fe a constitutional congress that in 1853 sanctioned a new constitution modeled on that of the United States. All provinces accepted the constitution, but the province of Buenos Aires refused to join the new union and did not become a member until 1859. Besides creating the Argentine Confederation, Urquiza while president negotiated a navigation treaty with Great Britain, France, and the United States that reopened Argentine ports to world trade.

After leaving the presidency in 1860 he was made general of the army and continued as governor of Entre Ríos. In 1861 war again broke out between the provinces and Buenos Aires, which was determined to lead the country. Buenos Aires’s victory at the Battle of Pavón was a severe setback to Urquiza’s political plans. He was assassinated with his sons in his villa by followers of one of his political rivals in Entre Ríos.