ABSTRACT
In May 1810, as soon as news of the dissolution of the Supreme Central Council of Spain reached Buenos Aires, the leaders of the revolutionary movement decided to remove the Viceroy and organize a local government, arguing that Joseph Bonaparte was illegitimate. The new government in Buenos Aires immediately launched a campaign to convince other cities in the interior of the country to adopt and support the ideals of the May Revolution. Most political historians describe the conflicts and wars that involved the United Provinces of Río de la Plata during the five decades that followed the May Revolution as conflicts between the 'unitarist' elites of Buenos Aires and the 'federalist' strongmen of the interior. The new government that emerged from the 1810 May Revolution was a council of nine members, two of them military figures: President Cornelio Saavedra, and council member Miguel de Azcuénaga, Four other members were creole lawyers.
