{{short description, Argentine intellectual movement Salon literario

The 1837 generation ( es, Generación del '37) was an Argentine intellectual movement named after the date a literary hall with most of its members was established. Influenced by the new

romantic Romantic may refer to: Genres and eras * The Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries ** Romantic music, of that era ** Romantic poetry, of that era ** Romanticism in science, of that e ...

ideas, they rejected the cultural Spanish heritage of the country. They did not acknowledge any national roots in the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

or the period of European colonization, focusing instead on the Revolution as the birth of the country, as it gave them freedom, the possibility to behave as free people. They considered themselves "sons of the

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terr ...

", they were born shortly after it, and wrote some of the earliest Argentine literary works. The group established a literary hall in 1837 in Buenos Aires, hence the name. This ''Salón Literario'' closed six months after it was created because of the reiterated warnings from the government. Initially, they claimed to be neutral in the

Argentine Civil Wars The Argentine Civil Wars were a series of civil conflicts of varying intensity that took place through the territories of Argentina from 1814 to 1853. Initiation concurrently with the Argentine War of Independence (1810–1820), the conflict ...

, they wrote works biased against the federal governor

Juan Manuel de Rosas Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rosas (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confederation. Althoug ...

(such as '' El Matadero'' by Esteban Echeverría or '' Facundo'' by

Domingo Faustino Sarmiento Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (; born Domingo Faustino Fidel Valentín Sarmiento y Albarracín; 15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine activist, intellectual, writer, statesman and the second President of Argentina. His writing sp ...

) because Rosas was the Buenos Aires government of that time, but they were also against the former

Unitarian Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present ...

governments, with whom they didn't agree in their absolutist manners that were considered by them as a mere restoration of the manners of the Spanish colony. Their efforts to install a full democratic Republic and guarantee civil rights by means of a peaceful ''propaganda'' were vain and shortly after that they ended up exiled or assassinated. After Rosas was overthrown in 1852, their writings inspired the first

Argentine Constitution The Constitution of the Argentine Nation ( es, Constitución de la Nación Argentina) is the Constitution, basic governing document of Argentina, and the primary source of existing Law of Argentina, law in Argentina. Its Argentine Constitution of ...

in 1853, and their persons promoters of the ''Organización Nacional'', the articulation and organization of the political divisions, infrastructure and institutions of the country, that in its final form didn't was federal nor unitarian but a balance of both. They were called "unitarians" in a loose sense and by Rosas ''propaganda''. Some notable members of this generation were Esteban Echeverría,

Juan Bautista Alberdi Juan Bautista Alberdi (August 29, 1810 – June 19, 1884) was an Argentine political theorist and diplomat. Although he lived most of his life in exile in Montevideo, Uruguay and in Chile, he influenced the content of the Constitution of Argent ...

, Juan María Gutiérrez,

who was president between 1868 and 1874, Miguel Cané (senior),

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre Martínez (26 June 1821 – 19 January 1906) was an Argentine statesman, soldier and author. He was President of Argentina from 1862 to 1868 and the first president of unified Argentina. Mitre is known as the most versatile ...

Andrés Lamas Andrés Lamas Bervejillo (born 16 January 1984) is an Uruguayan professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Defensor Sporting. Football career Born in Montevideo, Lamas started playing professionally with local Defensor Sporting Club ...

Antonio Somellera Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular m ...

, Vicente Fidel López, Carlos Tejedor, Juan Bautista Peña, Florencio Varela,

Juan Cruz Varela ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking communities around the world and in the Philippines, and also (pronounced differently) in the Isle of Man. In Spanish, ...

, José Mármol, José Rivera Indarte (Buenos Aires), Quiroga Rosas, Antonino Aberastain, Santiago Cortínez (San Juan), Benjamín Villafañe, Félix Frías (Tucumán), Francisco Álvarez,

Paulino Paz Paulino is a surname and a masculine given name. It is a Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese form of the Roman family name ''Paulinus'', which was itself derived from the Roman family name Paulus (surname), Paulus meaning ...

, Enrique Rodríguez,

Avelino Ferreyra Avelino may refer to: Given name Sports * Avelino Acosta (1917–2008), Paraguayan football (soccer) player * Avelino Asprilla (born 1981), former minor league baseball player * Avelino Cañizares (1919–1983), former professional baseball sh ...

Ramón Ferreyra Ramón or Ramon may refer to: People Given name *Ramon (footballer, born 1998), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (footballer, born 1990), Brazilian footballer *Ramón (singer), Spanish singer who represented Spain in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest * ...

(Córdoba), Juan Thompson (Corrientes).

References

* Esteban Echeverría, 1846. ''Dogma Socialista de la Asociación de Mayo, precedido de una ojeada retrospectiva sobre el movimiento intelectual en el Plata desde el año 1837.'' (in Spanish) https://web.archive.org/web/20160319135757/http://trapalanda.bn.gov.ar/jspui/bitstream/123456789/2810/1/008235.pdf Cultural generations Romanticism Argentine Civil War Argentine literature Organizations established in 1837 Classical liberalism Domingo Faustino Sarmiento