For seven years the success of the insur rection remained in doubt. The Argentines suffered defeats in Paraguay and in Upper Peru (now Bolivia), and the Spanish held un conquered the fort of Montevideo at the mouth of the river Plata. During this time the en thusiastic propaganda for liberty and equality, and the revolutionary documents sent out from Buenos Aires to all the colonies, had awakened fanciful ambitions and uneasy repinings among the natives and illiterate semi-barbarous half breeds, who during the progress of seven gen erations — more than two centuries — had submissively considered themselves inferior to the whites. So when the Argentines had once conquered the Spanish forts of Montevideo and AsunciOn, the provinces of Paraguay and Uru guay declared themselves independent.
By 1815 the leaders having sown anarchy in all the colonies, the revolutionary govern ment of Buenos Aires saw itself beset by the danger of invasion of the territory of the provinces of the Plata by the forces under the command of the Viceroy of Peru, and on the borders of the Plata River by the Spanish fleet. In such emergencies the larger part of the directors of the revolutionary movement felt powerless to follow the model of the re public established by the English colonies in North America and discussed a monarchical government (one of the leaders even proposed annexation to the British empire) in order to link the provinces of Rio de la Plata with European countries, and to silence the resent ments of Spain. At the same time they would submit to the insurgents who were breaking up the country by encouraging the passions of the half-breeds, and stimulating their narrow clannishness which they disguised under the name of federalism. To bring about a crisis the revolutionary government convoked a con gress of representatives from all the provinces united with Buenos Aires. This congress met in the city of Tucuman 9 July 1816, and pledged itself to a Declaration of Independence for the United Provinces of Rio de la Plata, a date which the Argentines celebrate as a national holiday. The Congress of Tucuman, where the local element predominated, decided also that the form of the government should be demo cratic-republican-federal, by which title the Congress exalted the elements of anarchy and diminished the prestige of the active industrial class which produced the independent move ment whose centre was Buenos Aires.
England and the United States, the former to limit the political power of Spain, the latter to remove from the American continent the other great powers, were the first nations to recognize the independence of the Argentines.
It was then that President Monroe proclaimed the doctrine, °America for the Americans .° However, the Spanish rule was not ended in America, but maintained itself firmly in the rest of the colonies. It was the destiny of Ar gentina to fulfil her mission as Liberator.
Lima, the capital of Peru, was the centre of the Spanish power which extended through the latter country, Chile, and the northern part of South America, Central America, and Mexico. Besides, the Spaniards still held the city of Montevideo, which was their bulwark on the Atlantic coast.
To reach Lima by land was a task beydnd the bounds of possibility, on account of the geographical conditions which favored the Spanish troops by offering them a safe posi tion within easy reach of their headquarters. The Argentine Congress had the good fortune, however, to find a soldier of genius to whom they confided this new undertaking. His name was San Martin. Realizing the risk of meet ing the Spanish forces on land, he conceived the project of crossing the Andes to drive out the Spaniards from Chile and to reach Lima by sea. This bold enterprise was secretly pre paring for two years, and in 1817 General San Martin led across the Andes an army of 5,000 Argentine soldiers, largely recruited from the hardy plainsmen and cowboys. This little force of rough-riders, by defeating the Spanish troops in the battle of Chacabuco, gave inde pendence to the Chilean people. San Martin was also successful against the Spaniards in Peru, entering Lima as a liberator in 1821. Though urged to take the civil government of the countries he had freed, this soldier of splendid quality refused the rewards, honors and offices of civil life, which men fulfilling similar missions in other countries have almost without exception consented to receive.
While the patriotic army gloriously ended their campaign on the Pacific, ambitious lead ers had converted the country at home into various feudal dependencies, which were at war with one another. The government, being powerless to contend with the factions, dis solved, leaving the provinces to take care of themselves. This picture of savagery discour aged San Martin, who, upon his return from his campaign, despairing of seeing the return of order and peace in the new communities, re tired to France, where he died some years later.