Background
Bartolomé Mitre Martínez was born on June 26, 1821, in Buenos Aires. , Argentina.
Bartolomé Mitre Martínez was born on June 26, 1821, in Buenos Aires. , Argentina.
After being the first president of a united Argentina, he continued for a half century to be an inspiring example to youth and a trusted adviser to government officials and cultural leaders.
Mitre began his military career when he was little more than 20 years old. He was an opponent of the dictator Juan Rosas and spent from 1846 to 1851 in exile. From about 1836 to 1846 he was in Montevideo, Uruguay, where he engaged in journalism. From 1846 to 1851 he spent time in Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. In 1852 he returned to Buenos Aires and assisted General Justo Urquiza in the war against Rosas.
He commanded the forces of Buenos Aires at the defeat of Cepeda, which forced that province to reenter the Argentine Confederation in 1859. In the following year, Mitre was elected governor of Buenos Aires, and in 1861 he led a revolution that overthrew the national administration. As president of Argentina from 1862 to 1868, he fostered railroad building, the adoption of a commercial code, the revision of the tariff laws, and the establishment of telegraph lines, postal services, and public schools. In 1865, when the Paraguayan War broke out, he became commander in chief of the forces of Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay.
He was one of a famous trio, with Domingo Sarmiento and Juan Alberdi, who organized a unified Argentina between 1852 and 1862. His influence in his country was similar to that of Washington in the United States.
Mitre was one of Argentina's best writers. In Buenos Aires in 1870, he founded La Nación, one of the world's outstanding newspapers. His two finest works, perhaps, are his biographies of Manuel Belgrano and José San Martín, Historia de Belgrano (1858) and Historia de San Martín(1887).
