Carlos Enrique José Pellegrini Bevans (October 11, 1846 – July 17, 1906) was Vice President of Argentina and became President of Argentina from August 6, 1890 to October 12, 1892, upon Miguel Ángel Juárez Celman's resignation (see Revolución del Parque).
Biography Pellegrini was the son of Swiss-Italian engineer Charles Henri Pellegrini (born in Chambéry) and María Bevans Bright, and grandson of English engineer James "Santiago" Bevans.
Like many other nineteenth century Argentines prominent in public life, he was a Freemason.The list includes Juan Bautista Alberdi, Manuel Alberti, Carlos María de Alvear, Miguel de Azcuénaga, Antonio González de Balcarce, Manuel Belgrano, Antonio Beruti, Juan José Castelli, Domingo French, Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid, Francisco Narciso de Laprida, Juan Larrea, Juan Lavalle, Vicente López y Planes, Bartolomé Mitre, Mariano Moreno, Juan José Paso, Gervasio Antonio de Posadas, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, and Justo José de Urquiza. José de San Martín is known to have been a member of the Lautaro Lodge; but whether the lodge was truly masonic has been debated:
Carlos Enrique José Pellegrini was born in the city of Buenos Aires on 11 October 1846, during the Rosas era; he was the son of the British-born María Bevans and the Swiss engineer (of French descent) Carlos Enrique Pellegrini, originally from Chambéry (Kingdom of Sardinia). In the 1855 census, his childhood home appears when he was 9 years old, living with his parents in Buenos Aires, his older sister Julia, and two younger siblings: Ernesto and Ana, at Corrientes Street 188.
The engineer Charles Henry Pellegrini had arrived in the country from Switzerland in 1828, having been hired by president Bernardino Rivadavia for the construction of the Port of Buenos Aires.«Carlos Pellegrini, el “suizo” que gobernó Argentina» , article published on the Swissinfo website. Retrieved 20 May 2011.«Personalità», article in Italian on the Comune di Croglio (Switzerland) website. Retrieved 21 May 2011.Pigna, Felipe: «Carlos Pellegrini» El Historiador. Retrieved 22 May 2011. Upon his arrival in the country, the project was suspended due to a change of government. Unable to practice his profession, Pellegrini's father began working in Argentina as a portrait painter, and soon became one of the most sought-after artists in Buenos Aires society. He maintained a strong interest in political and social debates occurring in Europe, and his private library contained many British journals specializing in these subjects, such as The Edinburgh Review, The Quarterly Review, and The Westminster Review. On his mother's side, María Bevans was the daughter of the British engineer Santiago Bevans, who had also arrived in the Río de la Plata under circumstances similar to those of his future son-in-law. María was a niece of the British liberal politician John Bright, co-founder of the Manchester League and a close collaborator of William Gladstone. These family characteristics placed the Pellegrini family in a central position in the social life of the city of Buenos Aires.
His father was the first to introduce him to reading and writing on a small family ranch in Cañuelas. A maternal aunt taught him English at an early age, a language that Carlos mastered perfectly and spoke fluently throughout his life. At the age of eight he entered the school of Ana Bevans, his aunt. It is possible that his early instruction in English left a slight trace in his pronunciation, from which came the nickname el Gringo, as he was called by his classmates at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires. He graduated from that institution in 1862.
He entered the Faculty of Law of Buenos Aires in 1863, but two years later abandoned his studies to join the army and fight in the Paraguayan War. There he served as an artillery ensign, eventually reaching the rank of officer. Pellegrini distinguished himself in the Battle of Tuyutí, as well as in other engagements, but he fell ill and had to permanently leave the army.«Carlos Pellegrini» CPEL. Retrieved 9 July 2011. After recovering he returned to Buenos Aires, completed his law studies in 1869, and joined the recently founded newspaper La Prensa. With his university degree he began working for the state as undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance, under constitutional convention member Benjamín Gorostiaga during the government of Domingo F. Sarmiento.«Las facetas de Carlos Pellegrini » Nueva Mayoría. Retrieved 2 June 2011. During the last three years of that presidency a struggle arose between autonomists and nationalists, and Pellegrini joined the Autonomist Party led by Adolfo Alsina. He was a candidate for deputy in the elections of 1870 and 1871 but was defeated by the nationalists commanded by Bartolomé Mitre. Only after Alsina's victory, and thanks to the election of governor Mariano Acosta in the province of Buenos Aires, did Pellegrini obtain his first legislative seat. He was the youngest among the provincial deputies, at only twenty-six years of age, and his first speech concerned the conversion of paper currency; throughout his career he took part in debates related to monetary and economic matters.
In his graduation thesis El derecho electoral (Electoral Law) he criticized the system in force at the time and proposed a broad campaign of civic education. A brief excerpt reads:
He was an autonomist candidate during the elections of 1874, in which there was no freedom of suffrage and only a minority of citizens loyal to the government were allowed to vote. The struggle between the autonomist committee of Adolfo Alsina and Leandro Alem against the "national" faction of Mitre and Eduardo Costa produced moments of tension, largely as a result of the fraud and violence that prevailed during the elections. The government of Sarmiento ended up accepting what was described as the "most scandalous and bloody" victory recorded in electoral history up to that moment. This electoral fraud served as a precedent for the Revolution of 1874. Although the uprising was suppressed, it produced consequences similar to those of 1852, continuing the abstention and conspiracies of the nationalist liberals. Alsina, governor of Buenos Aires at that time, disputed the presidential succession with Mitre; failing to obtain his support, he withdrew his candidacy and instead backed Nicolás Avellaneda, a candidacy that Pellegrini also supported. In the mixed elections of 1878 Pellegrini was re-elected national deputy. After Alsina's death the Autonomist Party became disoriented and split into two currents: one representing the localism of Tejedor, and another seeking links with the provinces to create a national party. Pellegrini defended the federal doctrine and opposed the abuse of federal interventions. During the confrontation between Buenos Aires and the provinces he actively supported the national movement led by the young general Julio Argentino Roca, who enjoyed the backing of much of the interior of the country, distancing himself from Tejedor's Buenos Aires localism. From this period dates the friendship between Pellegrini and Roca. The general would seek Pellegrini's advice for some of his most important documents produced during that political struggle. It was also through this relationship that Roca eventually abandoned Tejedor's localist ideas. This alliance became the epicenter of political activity for at least twenty years; few institutional, economic, or political matters were resolved without the involvement of Roca and Pellegrini. Referring to this, Roca stated: "I find (in the Capital) a great party... provincial, raw and pure, succeeding and gathering the scattered party of Alsina".
Pellegrini was among the early supporters of civil rights for women in Argentina, proposing that they be granted the right to vote. These ideas may have stemmed from family tradition, as his great-aunt Priscila Bright, the wife of a Lord Provost, had been one of the promoters of women's suffrage in England.
In 1871, a tragic year in Buenos Aires when thousands died from the yellow fever epidemic, Pellegrini married Carolina Ignacia Lagos García, a union that produced no children. That same year he began his political involvement through Alsina's Autonomist Party when he ran in the legislative elections of 1871 and 1872, though he lost both contests. Finally, in 1873 he was elected deputy for the Buenos Aires Province.
Deputy (1873–1877) As mentioned above, in 1873 he was elected national deputy, and in 1878 governor Carlos Casares appointed him minister of government of the Buenos Aires Province. His six years as a deputy were characterized by strong oratorical ability and clarity of expression. His fellow legislator José Manuel Estrada, although an opponent, praised Pellegrini's speaking ability when he remarked: "If you do not understand me, I will ask deputy Pellegrini to explain it to you as only he knows how".
During his years as a deputy he adopted a position in favor of free education, taking the United States educational model as an example (as did Domingo Faustino Sarmiento). During debates between liberalism and protectionism around 1875, Pellegrini supported state policies aimed at protecting national industry and was also among the principal figures involved in founding the Industrial Club.
The following fragment of a parliamentary speech by Pellegrini illustrates his inclination toward industrialization:
Minister of War and Navy (1879–1886)
On 9 October 1879, president Nicolás Avellaneda appointed Carlos Pellegrini minister of War and Navy to replace Julio Argentino Roca (a position he also held during Roca's presidency until 12 October 1886). In that role he had to confront the rebellion of Carlos Tejedor in 1880, the governor of Buenos Aires, who refused to accept the Federalization Law that removed the Federal Capital from the jurisdiction of the province of Buenos Aires. Pellegrini was responsible for suppressing the rebellion, which increased his prominence within Argentine politics.
During his tenure at the Ministry of War he helped create a depoliticized military institution intended solely to defend the government and the constitutional order without conspiring against it.
Working with the Naval School he created the Naval Artillery, Pilots, and Naval Engineers corps. He also built a gunpowder factory in Luján and established the regulations of the Naval School as well as the maritime signal code.«Biografía de Carlos Pellegrini » Fundación Pellegrini. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
Senator (1881–1883) In 1881 he was elected national senator for the Buenos Aires Province to complete the term of Dardo Rocha, serving until 30 April 1883. During his time in the Senate he secured congressional approval to resume construction of the Port of Buenos Aires, which had remained unfinished since the presidency of Bernardino Rivadavia. He adopted the earlier project of Eduardo Madero, and through financing and British technicians the port was completed nine years later, when Pellegrini was serving as vice president.
Pellegrini traveled to the United States and Canada in 1883 to observe and study industrial development in the leading industrial nations, visiting factories, laboratories, and workshops. Like Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, he also traveled to North America to examine how education was organized there.Rodolfo Sala. «Carlos Enrique José Pellegrini » Historia con Opinión. Retrieved 2 June 2011.
He was commissioned by the government of Julio Argentino Roca to negotiate a delicate loan with creditors in Europe in 1885.
Vice presidency (1886–1890)