References to the North American federalism from the first Spanish translation of The Federalist (1868). The Argentine case in the Spanish-American area

Abstract

After the process of independence within the former American colonies of Spain, the federation as a form of National organization of the State was the system chosen in many of the new political entities. It was a system that should strike an effective balance between the capacity of the provinces to elect their leaders or regulate their institutions and a strong central power governing the national life. Along this process the Northamerican example was always an outstanding reference among Hispanic politicians. The situation with the Peninsular case is slightly different as the French and English models remained very much present in its constitutional drafts until the second half of the century.

In both cases, Spanish and Latin American, an extended process took place throughout these decades in order to recover the original concept of federalism for the first time mentioned in the United States at the end of the previous century. The basic aim was then to restore and recover the term, not only from the perspective of semantics but also through its practical implementation as a political system. Numerous copies of Spanish translations of The Federalist after 1868 were widely circulated in South America and Spain in this regard. Many intellectuals and political representatives in that moment demanded a greater similarity of the U.S. model, as it was so often evoked. El Federalista edition and its distribution is crucial to contemporaries to get the message and understand the essence of the concept and the model, to make it intelligible.