Bases...es un documento de referencia para la comprension de los origenes de la idea de una "civilizacion" latinoamericana. El libro contiene una breve historia de las constituciones americanas de la epoca y ofrece una vision critica de ellas. Aqui tambien estaran los topicos de la burguesia argentina y latinoamericana, atrapada desde sus origenes entre la condicion liberal de su historia y el deseo de otorgarse una pureza de sangre. No debe, en consecuencia, sorprender el caracter etnico de este texto, su apuesta casi racial por lo europeo. " Por que razon he dicho que en Sudamerica, gobernar es poblar, y en que sentido es esto una verdad incuestionable? Porque poblar, repito, es instruir, educar, moralizar, mejorar la raza; es enriquecer, civilizar, fortalecer y afirmar la libertad del pais, dandole la inteligencia y la costumbre de su propio gobierno y los medios de ejercerlo. Esto solo basta para ver que no toda poblacion es igual a toda poblacion, para producir esos resultados. Poblar es enriquecer cuando se puebla con gente inteligente en la industria y habituada al trabajo que produce y enriquece.Poblar es civilizar cuando se puebla con gente civilizada, es decir, con pobladores de la Europa civilizada.
Por eso he dicho en la Constitucion que el gobierno debe fomentar la inmigracion europea. Pero poblar no es civilizar, sino embrutecer, cuando se puebla con chinos y con indios de Asia y con negros de Africa." 'Argentina (1852): Bases...' is a valuable reference for understanding the origins of the idea of a Latin American "civilization". The book records a brief history of the American constitutions of the era, and offers a critical analysis of them. The reader will also find many of the cliches surrounding the Argentine and Latin American bourgeoisie, caught from the start between its liberal historical condition and the desire to claim a pureblooded pedigree. As such, the ethnic character of the book should not surprise: it leans almost racially toward Europe. "Why have I said that in South America, to govern is to populate, and in what sense is this an irrefutable truth?Because to populate, I repeat, is to instruct, to educate, to moralize, to improve the race; it is to enrich, to civilize, to strengthen and to affirm the liberty of the country, giving it the intelligence and the customs of a government of its own, as well as the means to implement it.
This is just enough to let us see that not all populations are equal, in producing such results. To populate is to enrich when one populates with people knowledgeable in industry and accustomed to the sort of work that produces and enriches. To populate is to civilize when one populates with civlized people, which is to say, with civilized European people. For that reason, I have said in the Constitution that the government should promote European immigration. But to populate is not to civilize, but rather to brutalize, when one populates with Chinese and with Asian Indians and with Africans".
