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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Chile
Index
Chile defeated the Peruvian fleet at Casma on January
12, 1839,
and the Bolivian army at Yungay, Peru, on January 20.
These Chilean
victories destroyed the Peru-Bolivia Confederation, made
Chile lord
of the west coast, brought unity and patriotism to the
Chilean
elites, and gave Chile's armed forces pride and purpose as
a
military with an external mission. The successful war also
helped
convince the European powers and the United States to
respect
Chile's coastal sphere of influence. Subsequently, the
country won
additional respect from the European powers and the United
States
by giving them economic access and concessions, by
treating their
citizens well, and by generally playing them off against
each
other.
Since its inception, the Portalian State has been
criticized
for its authoritarianism. But it has also been praised for
the
stability, prosperity, and international victories it
brought to
Chile, as well as the gradual opening to increased
democracy that
it provided. At least in comparison with most other
regimes of the
era, the Portalian State was noteworthy for being
dominated by
constitutional civilian authorities. Although Portales
deserves
some credit for launching the system, his successors were
the ones
who truly implemented, institutionalized, legitimized, and
consolidated it. From 1831 to 1861, no other country in
Spanish
America had such a regular and constitutional succession
of chief
executives.
Manuel Bulnes Prieto (president, 1841-51), hero of the
victories over the Chilean Liberals at the Battle of
Lircay in
1830, and over the Bolivian army at Yungay in 1839, became
president in 1841. As a decorated general, he was the
ideal choice
to consolidate the Portalian State and establish
presidential
control over the armed forces. He reduced the size of the
military
and solidified its loyalty to the central government in
the face of
provincial uprisings. As a southerner, he was able to
defuse
regional resentment of the dominant Santiago area.
Although Bulnes
staffed his two administrations mainly with Conservatives,
he
conciliated his opponents by including a few Liberals. He
strengthened the new political institutions, especially
Congress
and the judiciary, and gave legitimacy to the constitution
by
stepping down at the end of his second term in office.
Placing the
national interest above regional or military loyalties, he
also
helped snuff out a southern rebellion against his
successor.
Intellectual life blossomed under Bulnes, thanks in
part to the
many exiles who came to Chile from less stable Spanish
American
republics. They clustered around the University of Chile
(founded
in 1842), which developed into one of the most prestigious
educational institutions in Latin America. Both foreigners
and
nationals formed the "Generation of 1842," led mainly by
liberal
intellectuals and politicians such as Francisco Bilbao
Barguin and
José Victorino Lastarria Santander. Through the Society of
Equality, members of the group called for expanded
democracy and
reduced church prerogatives. In particular, they defended
civil
liberties and freedom of the press, seeking to constrain
the
government's authoritarian powers.
Bulnes presided over continued prosperity, as
production from
the farms and mines increased, both for external and for
internal
consumption. In response to foreign demand, especially for
wheat
during the California and Australia gold rushes,
agricultural
exports increased. Instead of importing scarce and
expensive modern
capital and technology, landowners expanded production.
They did
this primarily by enlarging their estates and absorbing
more
peasants into their work forces, especially in the central
provinces, where the vast majority of Chileans toiled in
agriculture. This expansion fortified the hacienda system
and
increased the numbers of people attached to it. The growth
of the
great estates also increased the political power of the
landed
elites, who succeeded in exercising a veto over agrarian
reform for
a century.
In the mid-1800s, the rural labor force, mainly
mestizos, was
a cheap and expanding source of labor. More and more of
these
laborers became tenant farmers (inquilinos). For a
century
thereafter, many workers would remain bound to the
haciendas
through tradition, lack of alternatives, and landowner
collusion
and coercion. Itinerant rural workers and even small
landowners
became increasingly dependent on the great estates,
whether through
part-time or full-time work. The landed elites also
inhibited
industrialization by their preference for free trade and
the low
wages they paid their workers, which hindered rural
consumers from
accumulating disposable income. For a century, the lack of
any
significant challenge to this exploitive system was one of
the
pillars of the social and political hierarchy.
Liberals and regionalists unsuccessfully took up arms
against
Bulnes's conservative successor, Manuel Montt Torres
(president,
1851-61). Thousands died in one of the few large civil
wars in
nineteenth-century Chile. The rebels of 1851 denounced
Montt's
election as a fraud perpetrated by the centralist forces
in and
around Santiago. Some entrepreneurs in the outlying
provinces also
backed the rebellion out of anger at the government's
neglect of
economic interests outside the sphere of the central
landowning
elites. Montt put down the uprising with help from British
commercial ships.
From 1851 to 1861, Montt completed the construction of
the
durable constitutional order begun by Portales and Bulnes.
By
reducing church prerogatives, Montt eased the transition
from a
sequence of Conservative chief executives to a series of
Liberals.
As a civilian head of state, he was less harsh with his
liberal
adversaries. He also promoted conciliation by including
many
northerners as well as southerners in the government.
Benefiting from the sharp growth in exports and customs
revenues in the 1850s, Montt demonstrated the efficacy of
the
central government by supporting the establishment of
railroads, a
telegraph system, and banks. He created the first
government-run
railroad company in South America, despite his belief in
laissezfaire . He also initiated the extension of government
credit to
propertied groups. Under President Montt, school
construction
accelerated, laying the groundwork for Chile to become one
of the
most literate nations in the hemisphere. Expanding on the
initiative started by Bulnes, Montt also pushed back the
southern
frontier, in part by encouraging German immigration.
As the next presidential succession approached, a
second
rebellion ensued in 1859. The rebels represented a diverse
alliance, including Liberals who opposed the right-wing
government
and its encroachments on civil liberties, Conservatives
who
believed the president was insufficiently proclerical,
politicians
who feared the selection of a strongman as Montt's
successor, and
regionalists who chafed at the concentration of power in
Santiago.
Once again, Montt prevailed in a test of arms, but
thereafter he
conciliated his opponents by nominating a successor
acceptable to
all sides, José Joaquín Pérez Mascayano (president,
1861-71).
Under Bulnes and Montt, economic elites had resisted
paying
direct taxes, so the national government had become
heavily
dependent on customs duties, particularly on mineral
exports.
Imports were also taxed at a low level. The most important
exports
in the early years of independence had been silver and
copper,
mined mainly in the northern provinces, along with wheat,
tallow,
and other farm produce. The Chilean elites eagerly
welcomed
European and North American ships and merchants. Although
these
elites debated the issue of protectionism, they settled on
low
tariffs for revenue. Despite some dissent and deviations,
the
dominant policy in the nineteenth century was free
trade--the
exchange of raw materials for manufactured items, although
a few
local industries took root. Britain quickly became Chile's
primary
trading partner. The British also invested, both directly
and
indirectly, in the Chilean economy.
Data as of March 1994
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