Manuel Pedro Quintana Sáenz (October 19, 1835 – March 12, 1906) was the

President of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...

from 12 October 1904 to 12 March 1906. He died in office.

Biography

Manuel Quintana was born on October 19, 1835, son of Eladio de la Quintana y Uzín, and María Manuela Bernardina Sáenz de Gaona y Álzaga. He received a law degree from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

in 1855 at the age of twenty and two years later he directed the chair of civil law at the same university. On December 14, 1861, he married María del Carmen Susana Rodríguez Viana in the Church of San Nicolás de Bari, in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, and they had ten children.

Political career

He participated in politics since his youth and in 1860 he was elected deputy of the legislature of the

Province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

, by the party of

Bartolomé Mitre Bartolomé Mitre (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 Argentine Civil Wars#National unification, unified Argentina. Mitre i ...

. Subsequently, he went to the

Autonomist Party The Autonomist Party (; ) was an Italian-Dalmatianist political party in the Dalmatian political scene, that existed for around 70 years of the 19th century and until World War I. Its goal was to maintain the autonomy of the Kingdom of Dalmati ...

of Adolfo Alsina to oppose Miter's project to name the

City of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Capital of the Republic. In 1864, he was elected member of the

Argentine Chamber of Deputies The Chamber of Deputies (), officially the Honorable Chamber of Deputies of the Argentine Nation, is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress (). It is made up of 257 national deputies who are elected in multi-member constituencies c ...

for the

province of Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

and presented a bill to name the City of Rosario as the nation's capital, which would be approved but vetoed by the executive power. In 1870 he was elected National Senator and in 1871 President

Sarmiento Sarmiento may refer to: Places Argentina *Sarmiento Department, San Juan, a subdivision of the San Juan Province * Sarmiento Department, Santiago del Estero, a subdivision of the Santiago del Estero Province * Sarmiento Department, Chubut, a subdi ...

sent him to

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to negotiate the peace treaty that ended the War of the Triple Alliance against Paraguay. In 1873 he became a Freemason. Also in that year he presented himself as a candidate in the

presidential elections A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The ...

to succeed

from 1874, but he lost to Nicolás Avellaneda. In 1877 he held the title of rector of the

until 1881 when his term ended.

Quintana proposes to England to bomb Rosario

In 1876 there was an incident between the government of Santa Fe, at that time in charge of Servando Bayo, and the branch of the Bank of London in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, for not having followed the law that ordered the conversion to gold of all emissions of paper money made by the government of the province. As a result of this situation, the arrest of the branch manager and the intervention of the branch were ordered. Quintana was a National Senator and the bank's legal advisor at the time of the crisis, and he did not hesitate to resign from his bank for "health reasons." However, Quintana traveled to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he proposed to the government of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

the bombing of the city of Rosario if the government of Santa Fe did not cancel the intervention of the bank.

Presidential election

At the end of the second presidency of Julio A. Roca, the National Autonomist Party was divided into two factions: the one led by Roca and the one led by former president Carlos Pellegrini; For this reason, Roca sought an alliance with Bartolomé Mitre's party, proposing an alliance formula that would lead a Mitrist, Manuel Quintana, as a candidate for president, accompanied by the roquista José Figueroa Alcorta. In the presidential elections of April 10, 1904, this formula was triumphant, and they were proclaimed President and Vice President of the Nation on June 12 of the same year by the electoral college. Quintana was 68 years old at the time.

Presidency

His presidency took place within the scope of the period called the " Liberal Republic" or "

Conservative Republic In Chilean historiography, the Conservative Republic was a period of Chilean history that extended between 1826 and 1861, characterized by the hegemony of the conservative party, whose supporters were called ''pelucones''. It began with the def ...

", marked by the elitist government of the National Autonomist Party and

electoral fraud Electoral fraud, sometimes referred to as election manipulation, voter fraud, or vote rigging, involves illegal interference with the process of an election, either by increasing the vote share of a favored candidate, depressing the vote share o ...

. The Quintana government was a mere continuation of the previous ones: its foreign and economic policies followed the guidelines of Roca's; the economy continued to improve, driven by increased trade and the rail network continued to expand.

Government works

Among his government efforts, it is worth highlighting the nationalization of the University of La Plata, the regulation of the exercise of the liberal professions, the sanction of the Sunday rest law, proposed by the socialist deputy Alfredo Palacios, and the " Lainez Law" for the creation of elementary schools in the provinces. Quintana did not agree with the uninominal system, established by the electoral law of 1901, since the system of patronage and the pressure on voters had not been modified. So he sent a bill to Congress, proposing a single and universal registry –based on military service records– and the mandatory nature of voting. The original project was so modified that the only thing it had in common with the one presented by the president was the elimination of the single-member system; it was a complete return to the previous system, with all its flaws.

Radical revolution of 1905

Since the defeat of 1893, and even more since the division between "bernardistas" and followers of

Hipólito Yrigoyen Juan Hipólito del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús Yrigoyen (12 July 1852 – 3 July 1933) was an Argentine politician of the Radical Civic Union who served as President of Argentina from 1916 to 1922 and again from 1928 until his overthrow in ...

, no one seriously considered the

Unión Cívica Radical The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...

as a party with the possibility of accessing power. But, suddenly, the UCR reappeared showing a political and territorial organization far superior to that of the ruling party, and a great revolutionary decision, in the radical revolution of 1905, in which several units of the Army were involved. Exploded on February 4 of that year, it was relatively successful in

, Córdoba,

Bahía Blanca Bahía Blanca (; English: ''White Bay''), colloquially referred to by its own local inhabitants as simply Bahía, is a city in the Buenos Aires Province, Buenos Aires province of Argentina, centered on the northwestern end of the eponymous Blanc ...

and Mendoza, but was quickly put down. Manuel Quintana

Attempt on his life

On August 11, 1905, Quintana and his wife, Susana Rodríguez Viana, suffered an attack against their lives, when Salvador Planas y Virella, a Catalan anarchist, shot at the presidential vehicle, but he could not carry out his task due to a failure in the pistol he used. Planas declared that he acted alone and that his motivation was to avenge the workers killed during the demonstration on May 21 of that year. He was arrested and during the trial in September 1907 the defense alleged

mental instability A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. Planas was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attempted murder. On January 6, 1911, he fled the Buenos Aires National Penitentiary with the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

Francisco Solano Regis, who had attacked President José Figueroa Alcorta, Quintana's successor.Juárez, Francisco N. (7 April 2002)
"El atentado contra Manuel Quintana"
''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

''. Retrieved 12 February 2016 .

Health and death

The stress suffered by the president during the

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

and the subsequent attempt on his life damaged his health. As a consequence, he reduced his working hours to a minimum, which complicated his administration. Despite all attempts, Quintana's health continued to deteriorate, so on January 25, 1906, Quintana decided to take a license, delegating the position on an interim basis to Vice President Figueroa Alcorta. Quintana retired to a farm in the current Belgrano neighborhood, to rest and try to improve his health. However, Quintana was already very old, and finally died on March 12, 1906, becoming the first Argentine president to die in office. His remains rest in the Recoleta Cemetery.

Legacy

Quintana's portrait was featured on the five hundred thousand austral banknote that circulated during the hyperinflation in Argentina from 1989 to 1991.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quintana, Manuel 1835 births 1906 deaths 19th-century Argentine lawyers 20th-century Argentine politicians 20th-century presidents of Argentina Argentine Freemasons Argentine people of Spanish descent Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Members of the Argentine Senate for Buenos Aires Province National Autonomist Party politicians National presidents who died in office Patrician families of Buenos Aires Politicians from Buenos Aires Presidents of Argentina Presidents of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies Provisional presidents of the Argentine Senate Rectors of the University of Buenos Aires University of Buenos Aires alumni