Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata

The Supreme Director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata (Spanish: Director Supremo de las Provincias Unidas del Río de la Plata) was a title given to the executive officers of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata according to the form of government established in 1814 by the Asamblea del Año XIII (Assembly of Year XIII). The supreme director was to wield power for a term of two years.

The assembly hoped to confront the royalists, who had been emboldened by internal dissension within the patriotic faction. To prevent abuses of power, the directorship would be combined with a state council of nine members and would be required to answer to a congress empowered to carry out legislation.

After the resignation of José Rondeau following the unitarian defeat at the Battle of Cepeda,^[1] the office of Supreme Director was briefly assumed by Juan Pedro Aguirre. He endorsed the Buenos Aires Cabildo to name a governor for the province of Buenos Aires as the national congress dissolved itself on 16 February 1820, effectively ending the centralism in the national government and giving way to a new federal reorganization for the country, which was immediately formalized by the Treaty of Pilar on 23 February 1820.

For the traditional liberal historiography, exemplified by Bartolomé Mitre's works, the aftermath of the dissolution of the centralist government led to the Anarquía del año 20 (Anarchy of the 1820s). Until 1826 there would not be any central authority among the provinces of Argentina.

List of Supreme Directors

Took office	Left office	Supreme Director		Ref.
January 31, 1814	January 15, 1815		Gervasio Antonio de Posadas	^[2]
January 15, 1815	April 15, 1815		Carlos María de Alvear	^[3]
April 18, 1815	April 20, 1815		Juan José Viamonte	^[4]
April 20, 1815	April 20, 1815		José Rondeau	^[5]
April 20, 1815	April 17, 1816		Ignacio Álvarez Thomas	^[6]
April 17, 1816	July 12, 1816		Antonio González de Balcarce	^[7]
May 3, 1816	June 9, 1819		Juan Martín de Pueyrredón	^[8]
June 9, 1819	February 11, 1820		José Rondeau	^[9]
February 11, 1820	February 16, 1820		Juan Pedro Aguirre	^[10]

See also

• List of heads of state of Argentina
• President of Argentina

References

1. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Tras la batalla de Cepeda, José Rondeau renuncia y desaparece el directorio.
2. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Gervasio Antonio Posadas 31 de enero de 1814 – 15 de enero de 1815
3. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Carlos María de Alvear 15 de enero de 1815 – 15 de abril de 1815
4. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Juan José Viamonte 18 de abril de 1815 – 20 de abril de 1815
5. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. José Rondeau 20 de abril de 1815
6. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Ignacio Álvarez Thomas 20 de abril de 1815 – 17 de abril de 1816
7. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Antonio González Balcarce 17 de abril de 1816 – 12 de julio de 1816
8. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Juan Martín de Pueyrredón 3 de mayo de 1816 – 9 de junio de 1819
9. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. José Rondeau 9 de junio de 1819 – 11 de febrero de 1820
10. [Presidents and ministers of Argentina (1776 - 2011)]. El Historiador (in Spanish). Buenos Aires. Archived from the original on December 27, 2010. Retrieved December 18, 2011. Juan Pedro Aguirre 11 de febrero de 1820 – 16 de febrero de 1820