Francisco Antonio Pinto
Francisco Antonio Pinto y Díaz de la Puente (July 23, 1785, Santiago - July 18, 1858) was a Chilean lawyer, soldier and politician., member of the Liberal Party (PL). He served as President of the Republic between October 19, 1827 and November 2, 1829, the year in which a conservative reaction broke out that was reflected in a civil war. Pinto resigned from the Head of State, which he left in the hands of Francisco Ramón Vicuña.Later he served as a deputy between 1843 and 1846, and as a senator between 1846 and 1858; in both responsibilities he served as the presidency of their respective legislative chambers.
When the First Government Junta of Chile was formed in 1810, he returned from Lima to join the "patriot side". Shortly after he left for England, from where he returned in the period of the reconquest to join the Liberation Army in Mendoza.
Of a liberal political tendency, after the victory of the patriots in the battle of Chacabuco he was part of the Liberation Expedition of Peru. He was appointed Mayor of Coquimbo and in 1824 Minister of Government and Foreign Relations by President Ramón Freire and Vice President of the Republic in 1827. The following year he led, as President of the Republic, the constituent process that resulted in the "Liberal Constitution". In May 1829 he was re-elected as President and during his government he dealt with the failure of the laws federal and later with the liberal essay.
The leadership of his presidency began to wane in 1828 due to attempted military mutinies caused by months of unpaid wages that generated discontent. The conservatives took advantage of this situation to divide the Army and begin its political strengthening. President Pinto temporarily resigned in 1829, alluding to health reasons, although in fact it was due to the challenge of the election of his vice president, being temporarily replaced by the president of the Francisco Ramón Vicuña Congress.
In October of that same year he tried to return to office, however, the conservative forces that had achieved the adhesion of part of the army and contested the elections of deputies and senators and of the president and vice president himself, pushed the development of the war civilian that devastated the liberal forces and implemented a new political project from the Constitution of 1833.
After the Liberal defeat, he was persecuted, a situation that was reversed after the marriage of his daughter Enriqueta Pinto Garmendia to President Manuel Bulnes Prieto, which rehabilitated him politically. His son-in-law appointed him State Councilor in 1843, and he was later elected deputy for La Serena and president of the Chamber of Deputies. In 1846 he took office as proprietary senator and similarly reached the presidency of the Upper House.
Early Years
He was born in Santiago de Chile on July 23, 1785, the son of Joaquin Fernández de Pinto, born in Spain but of Portuguese origin, coming from one of the oldest and noblest families in Portugal, and the Spanish Mercedes Díaz de la Puente and Darrigrande. Pinto was a special case among his contemporaries: he came from a home of parents born in the Iberian Peninsula, something unusual for the time, since the majority were of Creole descent.[ citation required]
He studied humanities at the Convictorio Carolino, where he became friends with many of the future members of the Independence process, and later studied Law at the Royal University of San Felipe, from which he graduated as a lawyer on October 11, 1808.
In a first phase of his activity he dedicated himself to commercial activities. At the same time he had followed a military career: in 1807 he was —as an officer— a member of the militia regiment of Santiago (del Rey).He was a recruit instructor in the Las Lomas camp.
A member of the aristocracy, during the Chilean independence process he joined the patriot side, but he did not stand out as a soldier but as a diplomat. Around 1810, he was in Lima (Peru) when he learned of the formation of the First Government Junta. Returning to Santiago, he was commissioned to represent Chile before the Buenos Aires Board in 1811 and where he signed the first diplomatic agreement between the two countries. Two years later he was sent to England to try to get that country to recognize the independence of Chile, which he failed to do.
He was in Europe when the Rancagua Disaster occurred in October 1814, the patriotic defeat that marked the beginning of the restoration of the monarchy. He met the member of the First Government Junta of Argentina, Manuel Belgrano, and with him he returned to America, where he fought against the regional warlords in the Alto Peru campaign.
In 1820 he returned to Chile with the rank of colonel, already married —in a wedding in which Belgrano was the best man— with the Argentine patriot, Luisa Garmendia Alurralde and with their daughter, Enriqueta, who had been born in Tucumán and that with time she became the wife of President Manuel Bulnes.
Arriving in his country, the Supreme Director Bernardo O'Higgins sent him to participate in the Liberation Expedition of Peru, under the orders of José de San Martín. He returned in 1824 with the rank of brigadier, being immediately appointed by the supreme director Ramón Freire as mayor of Coquimbo.
Political career
On July 12, 1824, he was appointed during the administration of Supreme Director Ramón Freire, as Minister of Government and Foreign Relations, replacing Mariano Egaña, which was considered a maneuver to end the predominance of the Constitution of 1823. [citation needed] During his ministry the National Congress was dissolved, the bishop of Santiago de Chile José Santiago Rodríguez Zorrilla, a supporter of the royalists, was expelled, the conflict of powers with the Catholic Church, used electoral intervention to elect deputies addicted to the regime, the Constitution of 1823 was repealed and work began to draft a new magna carta.[citation required] At the same time, he was provisional Minister of War, from October 2, 1824 to February 22, 1825. He served as Minister of Government and Foreign Relations until February 22, 1825, when he resigned due to losses in his health.
When he left the ministry, he was appointed mayor of Coquimbo again. In that position, a Provincial Assembly was elected, which came into conflict with the central government, due to the latter's call for parliamentary elections, which in the assembly's opinion were premature, but the political discussion went to the background with the discovery of a rich silver ore found in the town of Arqueros, using the money taken from it to finance the expedition to Chiloé, the last royalist bastion of Chile. When federalist ideas arrived in the region, Pinto would present his resignation, accusing health problems, which was accepted on September 29, 1826.
The crisis caused by the implementation of federalism reached its climax on January 24, 1827, when Colonel Enrique Campino revolted the Santiago garrison against the government and the National Congress, demanding that General Pinto be elected president and Vice President Colonel Campino. Apparently, Pinto did not know about the coup plan and Campino had intentions of taking power. Be that as it may, the rebellion failed: the deputies called Freire, who managed to control the situation, becoming head of government again.[citation required]
Government
On February 13 of that year, under Freire, Pinto was elected Vice President of the Republic, and after the former resigned on May 5, he had to take charge of the Chilean government. On June 19, the National Congress was closed, which implied the end of the federalist project. In the new elections, the pipiolo sector won, obtaining two thirds of the chamber, which began its work on February 25, 1828. preparations then began to create a new Constitution: a commission made up of seven people delivered a draft of the project that was perfected by the Spanish writer José Joaquín de Mora, recently arrived in Chile; the new constitution was promulgated on August 8 of that year.
Pinto had to face a military uprising in those days by officer Pedro Urriola, who raised the banner of federalism and demanded his removal, but the movement quickly lost strength, and contrary to its objectives, it strengthened the power of the president.
As a representative of the pipiolo or liberal sector, in the presidential election of 1829 he won by an absolute majority; however, there was a strong dispute over the legitimacy of Vice President José Joaquín Vicuña, who had only a fourth majority. Pinto alleged health reasons and the Head of State was temporarily held (July 16 - October 19, 1829) by the then President of the Senate Francisco Ramón Vicuña Larraín.
Pinto resumed the presidency on October 19 for the constitutional period 1829-1834, but tempers were heated by the election of vice president, which broke out the civil war of 1829-1830: the provinces of Concepción and Maule, in addition to the army of the south, led by José Joaquín Prieto, ignored the legality of the proclamations of president and vice president made by the National Congress. Pinto chose to resign and, given the failure of his attempts to mediate between the groups in dispute to avoid civil war, two weeks later, on November 2, he left command of the nation back in the hands of Vicuña.
The conflict between liberals and conservatives ended with the battle of Lircay on April 17, 1830, which marked the triumph of the latter and their subsequent political hegemony that lasted for three decades.
After his government
In 1841, the Liberal Party (PL) proclaimed its candidacy for the presidency, being defeated by the conservative, General Manuel Bulnes. After the conservative victory, he was removed from politics and his prerogatives as general of the division, but after his daughter Enriqueta married General Bulnes, he restored his fueros and reinstated him to the Army, also naming him State Councilor in 1843.
In the parliamentary elections of 1843 he was elected as owner deputy for La Serena, for the legislative period 1843-1846. He served as provisional president and then president of the Chamber of Deputies, from May 30, 1843 to June 2, 1845. For the parliamentary elections of 1846 he ran as senator, being elected for the period 1846-1855. He was president of the Senate, from July 5 to August 6, 1847; and president again, from September 13 of the same year until June 4, 1849. He also served as vice president of the Senate, between June 11, 1851 and June 2, 1852. During his senatorial period he was a member of the Commission Permanent War and Navy and Education and Charity. In addition, he was a member of the Conservative Commission for the recess 1846-1847; 1847-1848; 1851-1852; and 1854-1855.
In the parliamentary elections of 1855, he obtained re-election as proprietor senator, for the period 1855-1864. He continued to be a member of the Permanent War and Navy Commission. He was also a member of the Conservative Commission for the recess 1855-1856; and 1856-1857. He died in the exercise of his parliamentary period, on July 18, 1858, without being able to conclude it.
Descendants
From his marriage to the Argentine patriot Luisa Garmendia Alurralde, who was a descendant of the last Inca emperor Huayna Cápac and the conquistador Francisco de Aguirre, it is worth mentioning the following children and descendants:
- Aníbal Pinto Garmendia, president of the republic between 1876-1881, married to Delfina de la Cruz Zañartu, great-grandfathers of Aníbal Pinto Santa Cruz, National Prize for Humanities and Social Sciences.
- Enriqueta Pinto Garmendia, first lady of Chile, wife of Manuel Bulnes Prieto, president of the republic between 1841-1851, being tatarabuelos, by paternal line, of former minister Felipe Bulnes, Minister Consuelo Valdés, exsenador Carlos Larraín and Minister Juan José Ossa.
- Luisa Pinto Garmendia, married to deputy Ricardo Ariztía Urmeneta, tatarabuelos, by mother line, of another president of Chile: Sebastián Piñera Echenique.
- Delfina Pinto Garmendia, married to the parliamentarian Francisco Rozas Mendiburú, son of the procer Juan Martínez de Rozas.