The origins of Argentina as a nation can be traced to 1776, when it was separated by King
Charles III of Spain from the existing
Viceroyalty of Peru, creating the new
Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. The head of state continued to be the king, but he was represented locally by the
viceroy. These viceroys were seldom natives of the country. The
British invasions of the River Plate kindled the
Porteño identity sentiment. By the 18–25
May Revolution in 1810, the first Argentine
autonomous government, known as the
Primera Junta, was formed in
Buenos Aires. It was later known as the
Junta Grande when representatives from the provinces joined. These early attempts at self-government were succeeded by two
Triumvirates and, although the first
juntas had presidents, the
king of Spain was still regarded as head of state. , the first president of Argentina Executive power was still not in the hands of a single person until the position of
supreme director was created by the
1813 National Assembly. In 1816, Congress declared independence and composed a constitution. This established the Supreme Director as head of state and vested the position with presidential powers. This constitution gave the supreme director the power of appointing governors of the provinces. Owing to political circumstances, this constitution never came into force, and the central power was dissolved, leaving the country as a federation of provinces. A new constitution was drafted in 1826. This constitution was the first to create a president, although this office retained the powers described in the 1816 constitution. This constitution did come into force, resulting in the election of the first president,
Bernardino Rivadavia. Because of the
Cisplatine War, Rivadavia resigned after a short time, and the office was dissolved shortly thereafter. A civil war between
unitarios (unitarians, i.e. Buenos Aires centralists) and
federalists ensued in the following decades. At this time, there was no central authority, and the closest to that was the chairman of foreign relations, typically the governor of the province of Buenos Aires. The last to bear this title was
Juan Manuel de Rosas, who in the last years of his governorship was elected
Supreme Chief of the Confederation, gaining effective rule of the rest of the country. In 1852, Rosas was deposed, and a constitutional convention was summoned. This constitution, still in force, established a national federal government, with the office of president. The term was fixed as six years, with no possibility of reelection. The first elected president under the constitution was
Justo José de Urquiza, but Buenos Aires seceded from the
Argentine Confederation as the
State of Buenos Aires.
Bartolomé Mitre was the first president of the unified country, when Buenos Aires rejoined the confederation. Thus, Rivadavia, Urquiza, and Mitre are considered the first presidents of Argentina by different historians: Rivadavia for being the first one to use the title, Urquiza for being the first one to rule under the 1853 constitution, and Mitre for being the first president of Argentina under its current national limits. In 1930, 1943, 1955, 1962, 1966, and 1976, military coups deposed elected presidents. In 1966 and 1976, the federal government was undertaken by a
military junta, where power was shared by the chiefs of the armed forces. In 1962, the president of the Senate ruled, but in the other cases, a military chief assumed the title of president. It is debatable whether these military presidents can properly be called presidents, as there are issues with the legitimacy of their governments. The position of the current Argentine government is that military presidents
Jorge Rafael Videla and
Leopoldo Fortunato Galtieri were explicitly
not legitimate presidents. They and their immediate successors were denied the right to a presidential
pension after the conclusion of their terms. The status of earlier military presidents, however, remains more uncertain. ==Powers and duties==