The Creole Triennium of Buenos Aires from a Transatlantic Perspective

Abstract

This article examines the reformist experiment, known in Argentine historiography as the “feliz experiencia” (happy experience), that took place in Buenos Aires between 1821 and 1824. The selected case formed part of the ideological climate that spanned the Atlantic within the context of the European liberal revolutions. Diverse strands of liberalism with republican and enlightened narratives converged in the reforms implemented during that triennium. Their principle objectives were to modernize the political, social, economic and cultural environment and to establish a legitimate and stable order. From a perspective of political and intellectual history, this study centers on two focal points. The first focuses on the constitutional question and the available political languages on which the reformist experiment of the La Plata region was based; the second explores different conceptions of the links between society and political power. Both focal points enable us to recover the close connections showcased in the great experimental laboratory that was the Atlantic world during those years, and the variations that revolutionary, constitutional and liberal principles could adapt in each case.