Uses and meanings of the “people” in Tucumán at the time of the British invasions

mid-1806 to mid-1808

Abstract

This article aims to understand the way some agents in Tucumán, situated in the Rio de la Plata Viceroyalty, understood and recreated their
relationship with superior authorities at Buenos Aires and Spain between 1806 and 1808. Because of British invasions to the Rio de la Plata, this was a time of factual autonomy from metropolitan and sub-metropolitan authorities. Hence, peoples in Tucumán experienced an unprecedented degree of self-government. In this context, this paper proposes to look at the ways the notion of “people” was used and deployed by the local cabildo and other local elites. While uses of the notion of “people” were grounded on Hispanic political tradition, this article proposes that the experience at the time of the invasion and the aids given to Buenos Aires opened up the possibility of new ways of understanding this notion –especially in what regarded the bounds of reciprocity between the people of Tucumán and the King.