In mid-1879, after the death of Alsina, Roca became the most prestigious leader of the National Autonomous Party, and was proposed as a candidate by Cordoba's governor Miguel Celman, and in Buenos Aires by the doctor Eduardo Wilde; and he quickly gained the support of most of the Argentine provincial governors. The April 11 elections for president, which came a sweeping victory for the voters of Roca, except in Buenos Aires and Corrientes. On June 13 the Electoral College met and elected President General Roca and Vice President Francisco Bernabé Madero. But in Buenos Aires a revolution against the triumph of Roca was brewing. Four days later the fighting began, which ended on June 25 with an agreement between the province and the nation; the
Revolution of 1880 had cost 3,000 deaths. Shortly before the presidential inauguration Roca was passed in Congress federalization of Buenos Aires. The political system that had brought him to the presidency, and which maintained notable stability long after he left office, rested on a series of unstable agreements between provincial governors—who controlled elections through
electoral fraud and
clientelism—and the president, who controlled the national budget in favor of or against the provinces and could depose hostile governors through
federal interventions. Mutually dependent, the governors and the president carried out continuous agreements that allowed both sides to advance the policies they desired. In any case, the stability of such a system required—in practice—the absence of any opposition; the fraudulent political practices also aimed at achieving that objective. During his administration, the
Penal Code and the national Mining Code were enacted; the municipal government of the new
Federal Capital was organized, and the city of
La Plata—capital of
Buenos Aires Province—was founded. The country's health situation had not improved significantly since the
epidemic of
yellow fever in 1871: between 1884 and 1887, a series of
cholera epidemics caused hundreds of deaths in the capital and the interior. Under his mandate the so-called "laicist laws" (
Leyes Laicas) were passed, which nationalized a series of functions that previously were under the control of the Church. He also created the so-called
Registro Civil, an index of all births, deaths and marriages. President Roca also made primary education free of charge by nationalizing education institutions run by the Church. This led to a break in relations with the Vatican. Roca presided over an era of rapid economic development fueled by large scale European immigration, railway construction, and booming agricultural exports. In May 1886 Roca was the subject of a failed assassination attempt.
Economy '' refrigeration plant in
Campana. The first refrigeration plant installed in
South America, in 1883. During Roca's presidency, the first refrigeration plants were established, enabling the export of meat to Europe. Roca began his first term (1880–1886) in a favorable economic situation, as that year much of the world began to overcome the
global depression that had begun in 1873. This period would be characterized by the introduction in 1883 of the
refrigeration plant (
frigorífico), an invention developed shortly before, as one of the central pillars of the Argentine economy. The refrigeration plant led landowners in
Buenos Aires Province to adopt a mixed production model on their estates, combining agriculture and livestock raising, a model that gave Argentina the label of an "agro-livestock" economy. However, it took more than two decades for Argentine cattle to be adapted to the British market, and until the end of the century there remained a high production of
tasajo (intended for consumption by enslaved people and populations in servile conditions), produced by
saladeros. The economic system was sustained through the exchange of primary products—exclusively of agricultural and livestock origin, and largely produced in the
Pampas region—for manufactured goods from abroad, especially from Europe.
Public works Roca's first government stood out for the large amount of public works carried out, financed with a high fiscal deficit. The railway network expanded from 2,516 to 6,161 km during his administration. A very significant portion of resources was also allocated to the construction of important buildings, mainly in
Buenos Aires and in the new capital of
Buenos Aires Province,
La Plata. A policy of credit to private individuals was initiated, of which an alarming proportion ended up in the hands of speculators and even chronic debtors, who would never repay them. During his first term (1880–1886), he issued a decree in 1882 for the construction of the
Port of Ensenada in Buenos Aires Province, shortly after declaring
La Plata as its capital. Also in 1882, the Congress approved the project to build a new
Port of Buenos Aires (
Puerto Madero and
Dock Sud), following the design of
Eduardo Madero. The law was immediately promulgated by Roca, but the contract for its construction was signed in 1884 and the works only began in 1886, when Roca finished his presidential term.
Monetary policy and the "period of great indebtedness" Roca created the Argentine national currency as such, while also adopting a policy of high borrowing and fiscal deficit that greatly increased the
external debt, a policy continued by his brother-in-law and successor
Miguel Juárez Celman. A crisis erupted in 1888, when the country entered into
default for four years. The national state practically lacked its own currency, to which Roca’s government responded by creating the
peso moneda nacional (symbol:
m$n), or "gold peso", because its parity with gold was guaranteed—although this parity could only be maintained for 17 months. The new currency began to circulate in July 1883. Despite these warning signs, the high fiscal deficit and the country's growing debt, the Argentine peso remained about 40% above gold, prompting international markets to buy large quantities of Argentine bonds in an operation unprecedented worldwide. The continuation of economic prosperity and the growth of agricultural production—stimulated by that same boom—allowed Roca to complete his term while maintaining his "bold" policy of fiscal deficit,
Educational and cultural policy , who was in
France. Inspired by
secularism, President Roca and his government sought to separate the
Catholic Church from the state. A law establishing the
civil registry was enacted and, following the
First National Pedagogical Congress, the government promoted the
Law 1420 on Education. The initiative was promoted by former president
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, then director of the National Council of Education, who considered education the principal democratizing tool of a society. The law established compulsory, free, and secular primary education. Prior to the enactment of the law, the first national educational census (National School Census) was carried out in 1883, providing accurate data on the school-age population, literacy rates, and the condition of existing educational institutions. This census informed the development of subsequent national educational policies. Under this law, major progress was made in literacy: when Roca took office there were 1,214 public schools in the country, and he left 1,804 to his successor. Normal schools for teacher training increased from 10 to 17; the number of teachers rose from 1,915 to 5,348; and total enrollment grew from 86,927 to 180,768 students. The
apostolic internuncio, Monsignor
Luigi Matera, strongly attacked the education law because it prohibited public schools from providing religious instruction, even making veiled calls for
civil disobedience. In response, by order of President Roca, Minister
Francisco J. Ortiz returned the nuncio’s credentials and ordered his immediate departure from the country; diplomatic relations with the
Holy See remained suspended for several years. In response, a
Catholic political grouping led by
José Manuel Estrada was formed to challenge what it considered the
liberal and
anticlerical dominance of the governing group, which it believed attacked the traditional
religion. On 25 June 1885 the law
Estatutos de las Universidades Nacionales was promulgated, also known as the
Avellaneda Law. Drafted by
Nicolás Avellaneda, the law granted universities autonomy in several matters and established a framework for their governance, including the election of the rector through a university assembly and the voting of professors for vacant chairs, although the final appointment remained with the executive power. It also allowed faculties to design their own study plans. Another important provision was the creation of an independent university fund derived from university fees.
Expansion of Argentine territory: national territories before Roca's presidency. After the main phase of the so-called
Conquest of the Desert (
Conquista del Desierto;
Puel Mapu according to Indigenous peoples) (1878–1879), which he himself had commanded in the field, Roca decided to end the remaining Indigenous resistance by ordering the
Neuquén and Río Negro campaign (1880–1881), the
Andes campaign (1882–1883), and the
final campaigns (1883–1885). Through these military campaigns, the Argentine Republic completed the occupation of what are now the provinces of
Neuquén and
Chubut, and the southern part of
Río Negro. To the north, Roca continued the
conquest of the Chaco, which had been initiated by President
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento in 1870. The most important campaign was commanded by the minister of war
Benjamín Victorica in 1884, defeating major
Qom leaders such as
Yaloshi (who was executed and decapitated, his head used symbolically at the founding of a settlement named after the president),
Cambá, and the
Mocoví leader
Juan el Raí. In 1884, Law No. 1532 on National Territories was enacted, establishing the national territories of
Misiones,
Formosa, and
Chaco in the north, and
La Pampa,
Neuquén,
Río Negro,
Chubut,
Santa Cruz, and
Tierra del Fuego in the south. The inhabitants of the national territories lacked political rights until they were provincialized more than six decades later during the government of
Juan Domingo Perón. In the new territories there were continuous property conflicts between owners who had purchased titles in Buenos Aires and settlers already established in the area. The situation of Indigenous peoples was much worse, as they were forcibly gathered into
reductions located on marginal lands which, in many cases, were periodically relocated. The only exception was the
Welsh colony of Chubut, organized socially and culturally apart from Argentine society since 1865, though carefully controlled by the authorities. From 1884 it even had its own railway.
Foreign policy To
fix the boundaries with
Chile, which had never been determined with sufficient precision, the
Boundary Treaty with
Chile was signed in
Buenos Aires in 1881. It established that
"the boundary line shall run in that extent along the highest summits of the said Cordillera that divide the waters, and shall pass between the slopes that descend on one side and the other..." up to the 52nd parallel south. From that point, it was determined that the
Strait of Magellan would be entirely Chilean; that a portion of the
Isla Grande de Tierra del Fuego would belong to Argentina; that the islands south of the
Beagle Channel up to
Cape Horn would belong to Chile; while the
Isla de los Estados and the other islands located in the
Atlantic east of Tierra del Fuego and the eastern coasts of Patagonia would belong to the Argentine Republic. Although the treaty represented clear progress, several issues remained unresolved, particularly the delimitation of boundaries in the extensive areas where the "highest summits" did not coincide with the
drainage divide. An expedition led by
Augusto Lasserre visited Tierra del Fuego in October 1883. On that occasion he purchased from the British missionary
Thomas Bridges his facilities on the
Beagle Channel, marking the founding of the city of
Ushuaia. Argentina also sought to secure possession of the richest valleys of the Patagonian Andes; the governor of the
National Territory of Chubut,
Luis Jorge Fontana, occupied the
Valle 16 de Octubre, where he founded the town of
Trevelin together with Welsh settlers in October 1885. Relations with the
United Kingdom, which remained excellent throughout his presidency, encouraged Roca to renew Argentine claims to sovereignty over the
Falkland Islands. These claims had originally been raised during the time of
Juan Manuel de Rosas but had not been formally reiterated by any government during the period of National Organization. By order of President Roca, Minister Ortiz informed the British representative in Buenos Aires that his government intended to resort to international arbitration to resolve the issue. Despite the fact that such mechanisms had been encouraged by Britain in various conflicts between South American nations, the proposal was firmly rejected. At the end of his term, support given by his government to the Uruguayan military leader
José Miguel Arredondo during the
Revolución del Quebracho generated a brief diplomatic incident with
Uruguay. The conflict was resolved through a promise—never fulfilled—to punish those responsible for the assistance. ==Continuing political involvement==