Bicentennial of the Constituent Assembly of 1813

January 31, 2013
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For once, today, January 31, 2013 is a national holiday that marks the bicentenary of the 1813 Constituent Assembly.

200 years ago, the Second Triumvirate convened the Constituent Assembly of 1813, also known as the Assembly of Year XIII, on October 24, 1812, in the United Provinces of the River Plate.

The aim was that ‘an Assembly representing the newly emancipated peoples to be defined and the institutional system of the United Provinces’.

The Assembly was inaugurated on January 31, 1813, but did not have some representatives of the interior.

The purpose was to proclaim the independence and drafting the constitution of the new state. During its course, the sectoral interests divided the deputies, which ended with a postponement of the declaration of independence, but set a series of important resolutions:

* It established the Argentine national shield.
* It ordered the composition of Argentine national anthem.
* It rendered bellies freedom of the slaves.
* It removed primogeniture and titles of nobility.
* It released the Indians from the obligation to pay tax.
* It ordered to mint the currency.
* It abolished the Inquisition and torture.
* It ended the slave trade.
* It approved a regulatory statute replaced the triumvirate for unipersonal Directory.