Jeremy Adelman

Republicanism Through Law: Juan Bautista Alberdi and Argentina

This paper will examine the legal writings of Argentina's foremost jurist: Juan Bautista Alberdi. Alberdi, author of the constitutional blueprint of 1852-53, issued a series of tracts from the 1840's to the 1860's which captured a legal sentiment among liberals who worried about Latin American lawlessness, while at the same time imagining a framework of lawful republicanism in the region. His formulations very explicitly imagined Spanish America in contrast to Anglo-America. Accordingly, the dream of a republic reflected a more universal, Atlantic aspiration, as well as a more particular recognition of the particularities of Argentine history. This paper stems from ten years of research and writing about nineteenth-century Argentine state-formation. It will rely on both published primary sources as well as the personal archives of Alberdi.