GUERRA, POLÍTICA Y NEGOCIOS EN BUENOS AIRES. LAS OFICINAS DE HACIENDA Y LOS PROVEEDORES DEL ESTADO (1858-1860)

Abstract

This study focuses on how the treasury offices of the state of Buenos Aires functioned between 1858 and 1860. A detailed analysis of a strictly delimited time period allows us to detect the specific characteristics of the construction of statehood as the dominant form of power, in the framework of a process that took shape very slowly.  We will address two closely linked subjects in it. The first aspect relates the way in which the treasury offices operated and how they were organized, as well as how their resources were handled and controlled while the second one centers on the contracts with their purveyors and contractors, paying particular attention to those that were in charge of supplying the army with cattle, in a context in which the expenses generated by war constituted the principal expenditure in the budget. This article inquires into the intention of implementing an administrative order with effective control mechanisms in circles where the links between those that implemented the government’s administration and those that supposedly did not form part of the government were all too frequent –when it was not the same person that operated   “on both sides of the counter”– leading to deals and contracting that were, to say the least, suspect.