Мануэль Бельграно: Аргентинаның тәуелсіздік күрескері және тудың авторы

18/19th century Argentine military leader, economist, politician, and journalist (1770–1820)

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano y González (3 June 1770 – 20 June 1820), usually referred to as Manuel Belgrano (maˈnwel βelˈɣɾano), was an Argentine public servant, economist, lawyer, politician, journalist, and military leader. He took part in the Argentine Wars of Independence and designed what became the flag of Argentina. Argentines regard him as one of the main Founding Fathers of the country. Belgrano was born in Buenos Aires, the fourth child of Italian businessman Domingo Belgrano y Peri and of María Josefa González Casero. He came into contact with the ideas of the Age of Enlightenment while at university in Spain around the time of the 1789 French Revolution. In 1794 he returned to the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, where he became a notable member of the criollo population of Buenos Aires; he tried to promote some of the new political and economic ideals, but found severe resistance from local peninsulares. This rejection led him to work towards a greater autonomy for his country from the Spanish colonial regime. At first he unsuccessfully promoted the aspirations of Carlota Joaquina to become a regent ruler for the Viceroyalty during the period when the French imprisoned the Spanish King Ferdinand VII during the Peninsular War (1807–1814). Belgrano favoured the May Revolution, which removed the viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros from power on 25 May 1810. He was elected as a voting member of the Primera Junta that took power after the ouster. As a delegate for the Junta, he led the ill fated Paraguay campaign of 1810 1811. Belgrano's troops were beaten by Bernardo de Velasco at the battles of Paraguarí and Tacuarí. Though his army was defeated, the military campaign initiated the chain of events that led to the independence of Paraguay in May 1811. He retreated to the vicinity of Rosario, to fortify it against a possible royalist attack from the Eastern Band of the Uruguay River. While there, he developed the design of the flag of Argentina. The First Triumvirate did not approve the flag, but because of slow communications, Belgrano would only learn of that many weeks later, while reinforcing the Army of the North at Jujuy. There, knowing he was at a strategic disadvantage against the royalist armies coming from Upper Peru, Belgrano ordered the Jujuy Exodus, which evacuated the entire population of Jujuy Province to San Miguel de Tucumán. His counter offensive at the Battle of Tucumán resulted in a key strategic victory, and it was soon followed by a complete victory over the royalist army of Pío Tristán at the Battle of Salta. However, his deeper incursions into Upper Peru ended with the defeats of Vilcapugio and Ayohuma, leading the Second Triumvirate to order his replacement as Commander of the Army of the North by the newly arrived José de San Martín. By then, the Asamblea del Año XIII had approved the use of Belgrano's flag as the national war flag. Belgrano then went on a diplomatic mission to Europe along with Bernardino Rivadavia to seek support for the revolutionary government. He returned in time to take part in the Congress of Tucumán, which declared Argentine independence (1816). He promoted the Inca plan to create a constitutional monarchy with an Inca descendant as head of state. This proposal had the support of San Martín, Martín Miguel de Güemes, and many provincial delegates, but was strongly rejected by the delegates from Buenos Aires. The Congress of Tucumán approved the use of his flag as the national flag. After this, Belgrano again took command of the Army of the North, but his mission was limited to protecting San Miguel de Tucumán from royalist advances while San Martín prepared the Army of the Andes for an alternative offensive across the Andes. When José Gervasio Artigas and Estanislao López seemed poised to invade Buenos Aires, he moved his army southwards, but his troops mutinied in January 1820. Belgrano died of dropsy on 20 June 1820. His last words reportedly were: "¡Ay, Patria mía!" (Oh, my homeland! ).

Manuel José Joaquín del Corazón de Jesús Belgrano was born in Buenos Aires on 3 June 1770, at his father's house. It was located near the Santo Domingo convent, at Santo Domingo street, between the streets Martín de Tours and Santísima Trinidad (the modern names of those streets are "Belgrano", "Defensa", and "Bolívar" respectively). Though the city was still rather small, the Belgranos lived in one of its wealthiest neighborhoods. Manuel Belgrano was baptized at the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral the following day. As he was born in the Americas he was considered a criollo, a social class below the Peninsulars. His father, Domingo (whose original Italian name was Domenico Belgrano Peri) came from the town of Imperia, Liguria, Italy. Domingo's maternal last name was Peri, which he translated to the Spanish form Pérez; his paternal last name was Belgrano – literally "Fairwheat", a name that denoted good cereal production. He changed his name "Domenico" to the Spanish "Domingo" as well. He was an Italian merchant authorized by the King of Spain to move to the Americas, and had contacts in Spain, Rio de Janeiro, and Britain. He promoted the establishment of the Commerce Consulate of Buenos Aires, which his son Manuel would lead a few years later. Manuel Belgrano's mother was María Josefa González Islas y Casero, born in Santiago del Estero, Argentina. The family was the second richest in Buenos Aires, after the Escaladas.

Belgrano completed his first studies at the San Carlos school, where he learned Latin, philosophy, logic, physics, metaphysics, and literature; he graduated in 1786. Domingo had sufficient success as merchant to send his two sons Francisco and Manuel to study in Europe. He expected them to study commerce, but Manuel decided to study law. Belgrano was so successful and attained such prestige that Pope Pius VI allowed him to study forbidden literature, even books deemed as heretical, excepting only the astrological and obscene books. In this way he came into contact with authors like Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Filangieri, who were forbidden in Spain. Belgrano studied near the intellectual elite of Spain, and by that time there were heated discussions about the ongoing French Revolution. The principles of equality and freedom, the universal scope of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and criticism of the divine right of kings were constant topics of debate. Among the supporters of these ideas it was thought that Spain should be remade under similar principles, and critics of such thought were rejected as tyrants or proponents of outdated ideas. However, the Spanish Enlightenment was slightly different from the French one as it still respected religion and the monarchy. Thus, despite the new influences, Belgrano remained a strong Catholic and monarchist. Belgrano also studied living languages, political economy, and public rights. The authors that most influenced him were Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Adam Smith, and François Quesnay. During his time in Europe, Belgrano became president of an Academy within the University of Salamanca devoted to Roman legislation, forensic practice and political economy. This publication, along with Belgrano's other works, showed his preference for a combination of the ideas of the physiocrats and the neomercantilist thought by Antonio Genovesi. For him, this was the right economic model that could support Argentina's independence. A short time before his return to Buenos Aires on 3 June 1794, Belgrano was elected by Don Diego de Gardoqui as "perpetual secretary" of the Commerce Consulate of Buenos Aires, a new local institution which dealt with commercial and industrial issues in the name of the crown. This date would be later known in Argentina as Economist Day. He would remain in this office until 1810, and would deal with commercial disputes and promote agriculture, industry, and commerce. Not having enough freedom to make big changes in the economic system, he made big efforts to improve education. Influenced by Campomanes, he believed that the true wealth of countries was human ingenuity, and that the best way to promote industrialisation was through education. Belgrano maintained frequent discussions with the committee members of the consulate, who were all merchants with strong interests involved in the monopolic commerce with Cadiz. He made many proposals, influenced by free trade ideas. By this time, Belgrano thought that "The merchant must have freedom to buy where he can be best accommodated, and it's natural that he does where he is supplied with the best price to be able to earn the best profit". and the nautical and drawing ones to provide the youth with prestigious and lucrative careers. The schools were situated next to the Consulate so that Belgrano could easily supervise their development. The schools were in place for three years before they were closed by a ruling of Manuel Godoy, from the Spanish monarchy, who considered them an unnecessary luxury for a colony. It was felt that Buenos Aires might not be able to maintain them. Belgrano tried to promote the diversification of agriculture via the production of linen and hemp, following experiences with his friend Martín de Altolaguirre. He proposed to keep reserves of wheat to help have control over its price. He also tried to make leather recognised as a product of the country, in order to promote its commercial potential. None of these proposals were accepted. He designed a system to give prizes to achievements that would boost the local economy, diversify the agriculture, or deforest the pampas. The system did not work as expected, and as nobody met the requirements no such prize was ever given. He helped to create the first newspaper of the city, the Telégrafo Mercantil, directed by Francisco Cabello y Mesa. He worked with Manuel José de Lavardén, and edited nearly two hundred issues. The newspaper was closed in 1802 because of conflicts with the authorities of the viceroyalty, who did not like the criticisms made in it or the jokes and parodies. He also worked at the Semanario de Agricultura, Comercio e Industria, directed by Hipólito Vieytes. He used this newspaper to explain his economic ideas: manufacturing and exporting finished goods, importing raw materials to manufacture, avoiding importing luxury goods or raw materials that could be produced or extracted locally, importing only vital products, and owning a merchant navy. The newspaper specialised in the "Philosophy of History, Geography and Statistics". Many revolutionary principles were presented as essays. Belgrano had symptoms of syphilis, which he had caught during his time in Europe. This sickness forced him to take long leaves from his work in the consulate, and to suggest his cousin Juan José Castelli, who had similar ideas, as a possible replacement during his leaves. Rejection by the committee members delayed the approval of Castelli until 1796.

Belgrano was appointed as captain of the urban militias in 1797 by viceroy Pedro Melo de Portugal, who was instructed by Spain to prepare defences against a possible British or Portuguese attack. Belgrano by then worked in the consulate, and was no longer interested in pursuing a military career. Viceroy Rafael de Sobremonte requested that he create a militia to counter a possible British attack, but he did not take interest in it. His first participation in a military conflict took place when the British, under William Carr Beresford, arrived with 1,600 men and captured Buenos Aires, as part of the first British invasion of the River Plate. Belgrano moved to the fortress as soon as he heard the warning, and gathered as many men as possible to join him in the fighting. However, as most of them lacked any formal training, his men marched in disorder and Belgrano ordered them to disband after a single British cannon shot scattered his panicked men. Belgrano would write later in his autobiography that he regretted not having by then even the most basic knowledge of militia work. After the British captured the city, all Spanish authorities were requested to pledge allegiance to the British crown. Belgrano thought that the members of the consulate should leave the city and join the viceroy, but the others did not agree. They acceded to the British request; Belgrano refused to do so. He said that he wanted "either our old master, or no master at all". To avoid being forced to pledge allegiance, he escaped from Buenos Aires and sought asylum at the chapel of Mercedes, in the Banda Oriental. It was expected that the British would return, and the whole city started to prepare for that possibility. Belgrano returned to Buenos Aires after the reconquest, and put himself under the command of Liniers. He was appointed sergeant of the Patricians Regiment, under the command of Cornelio Saavedra, and started to study military strategy. After some conflicts with other officials, he resigned as sergeant and served again under the command of Liniers. A new British attack took place in July 1807. During the battle he served as field assistant to a division commanded by Balbiani. Belgrano resumed his work in the consulate and discontinued his military studies. Due to his knowledge of French he had a brief interview with the British officer Robert Craufurd, who proposed British support for an independentist movement. Belgrano turned down the offer, suspecting that Britain might withdraw their support if their attentions were distracted by events which could occur in Europe, and in such case the revolutionaries would be helpless against a Spanish counterattack.

Manuel Belgrano was the main proponent of the Carlotist political movement in the Rio de la Plata, a response to recent developments in Europe, where Spain was at war with France. Through the abdications of Bayonne, the Spanish king Ferdinand VII was deposed and imprisoned and the Frenchman Joseph Bonaparte was appointed King of Spain by the French victors. This led to a partial power vacuum in the viceroyalty, as the legitimacy of the new king was rejected by all parties. The purpose of the Carlotist movement was to replace the authority of the deposed king with that of Carlota Joaquina, sister of Ferdinand, who was then living in Rio de Janeiro. The project was supported as a means to achieve more autonomy, and perhaps independence, for Spanish colonies in the New World. Belgrano kept a fluent mail communication with Carlota, and convinced many independentists to join him in the project, such as Castelli, Vieytes, Nicolás Rodríguez Peña, and Juan José Paso. The project, however, found strong resistance. As Carlota was married to John VI, a prince of Portugal, many people though that Carlotism was a trick to conceal Portuguese expansionism. By 1810 the project was forgotten. A new viceroy, Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros, arrived from Europe to replace Liniers. Belgrano had failed to convince Liniers of the benefits of the Carlotist plan, so he aimed instead to convince him of refusing to give up the viceroyalty, as Liniers had been confirmed as viceroy by a Spanish king. Cisneros, appointed by the Junta of Seville, lacked such legitimacy. Liniers refused this proposal as well, and handed command to Cisneros without resistance. Belgrano later convinced the new viceroy to allow him to edit a new newspaper, the "Correo de Comercio". This allowed him to gather with other revolutionary leaders with the excuse of discussing the development of the newspaper. He also supported Cisneros when he allowed foreign trade at the port (previously only Spanish ships were allowed), but this ruling was strongly rejected by Spanish merchants. The lawyer Mariano Moreno wrote The Representation of the Hacendados, an economic essay that convinced Cisneros to maintain the free foreign trade. Some historians, such as Miguel Ángel Scenna, suggest that the essay was actually Belgrano's work, or a work by Moreno from a draft written by Belgrano. Belgrano may not have been able to present such a work himself, because he held a political office and because his past opposition to Cisneros may have risked its rejection. Belgrano resigned from his work in the Consulate in April 1810 and moved to the countryside. A short time later he received a letter from his friends requesting him to return to Buenos Aires and join the revolutionary movements.

The Peninsular War was not developing favourably for Spain, and by May 1810 a ship arrived with the news of the defeat of Seville and the disbanding of the Junta of Seville. Without either a recognised Spanish king or the Junta that had appointed Cisneros, many people thought that the viceroy no longer had any authority. Cisneros tried to conceal the news by gathering all the newspapers brought by the ship, but Belgrano and Castelli managed to get one. Belgrano and Saavedra, representing the military and the intellectuals, got an interview with Cisneros to request an open cabildo, but without getting an answer. Cisneros called the military leaders and requested their support, but they refused, under the grounds that his viceroyalty lacked legitimacy. He supported the stance of his cousin Castelli, who made a speech explaining the concept of the retroversion of the sovereignty of the people, and that Spanish America was subject to the King of Spain but not to Spain itself. At the time of voting, Castelli's proposal was coupled with the one of Cornelio Saavedra, with Belgrano among its supporters. This joint proposal for the removal of Cisneros and the creation of a government junta prevailed over the others. However, the cabildo attempted to keep Cisneros in power in spite of this result, by creating a junta with Cisneros as its president. This was rejected by the revolutionary leaders and the population. A great state of turmoil ended when the Junta was disbanded on 25 May and replaced by the Primera Junta. Belgrano was included in this junta, among many other local politicians. Belgrano was appointed its protector. He supported the banishment of Cisneros and the members of the Real Audience, and the execution of Liniers and other counter revolutionaries defeated in Córdoba. Some historians suggest that he would have promoted the creation of the Operations plan, a secret document written by Moreno that set harsh ways for the junta to achieve its goals, while others consider the whole document a literary forgery done by royalists to discredit the junta. A few others suspect that some paragraphs or the whole document may have been the result of collaborative writing between Moreno, Belgrano, and Hipólito Vieytes.

Three months after the creation of the Primera Junta, Manuel Belgrano was appointed Chief Commander of an army sent to gather support at Corrientes, Santa Fe, Paraguay, and the Banda Oriental. A few days later his goal was made more specific: he must aim for Paraguay. The Junta had been informed that the patriotic party was strong, and a small army would suffice to take control. Trusting this information, Belgrano went to Paraguay with two possible goals: get acknowledgment for the Junta in Paraguay or promote a new government that would stay on friendly terms with Buenos Aires. Belgrano was unaware that on 24 July a general assembly in Paraguay discussed the Junta of Buenos Aires, and decided to reject it and pledge allegiance to the Regency Council of Spain. Belgrano headed north with nearly two hundred men, expecting to gather more people by the end of the Paraná River. Soldiers from the Blandengues regiments of San Nicolás and Santa Fe joined them en route, and later the Junta sent reinforcements of another two hundred soldiers. The army was welcomed by most of the population along the way, receiving donations and new recruits. Ultimately the army was composed of nearly 950 men, consisting of infantry and cavalry divided in four divisions with one piece of artillery each. By the end of October the army stopped at Curuzú Cuatiá, where Belgrano solved an old border conflict between Corrientes and Yapeyu. He set which territories would belong to Curuzu Cuatiá and Mandisoví, and organised their urban layout around the chapel and school. By November the army arrived at the coast of Paraná near Apipé island, and there Belgrano took measures to benefit the natives that were living in missions. With his authority as speaker of the Junta he gave them full civil and political rights, granted lands, authorised commerce with the United Provinces, and lifted their restriction on taking public or religious office. However, the Junta requested later that he should seek authorization for such changes in the future. From that point the army moved to Candelaria, which was used as a stronghold for the attack into Paraguay. The terrain gave a clear advantage to the Paraguayan governor Velazco against Belgrano: the Paraná River, nearly wide, was an effective natural barrier, and once it was crossed the patriotic army would have to move a long distance across a land without supplies. Swamps, hills, rivers, and lakes would force the army to march slowly, making a possible retreat very difficult. The Parana was crossed with several boats on 19 December, and a task force of 54 Paraguayan soldiers was forced to flee during the Battle of Campichuelo. Belgrano saw Velazco's army from the Mbaé hill, and despite being greatly outnumbered, he ordered an attack, trusting in the moral strength of his soldiers. When the Battle of Paraguarí started, the patriots briefly held the upper hand, but eventually Velazco, with superior numbers, prevailed. Even with 10 deaths and 120 soldiers taken prisoner, Belgrano wanted to continue the fight, but his officials convinced him to retreat. The army left for Tacuarí, being closely watched by the combined armies of Yegros and Cabañas. Those two armies had nearly three thousand soldiers, while Belgrano had barely four hundred. They were attacked from many sides during the Battle of Tacuarí, on 9 March. Greatly outnumbered and losing an unequal fight, Belgrano refused to surrender. He reorganised the remaining 235 men and ordered his secretary to burn all his documents and personal papers to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. Belgrano arranged for the troops and artillery to fire for many minutes, which made the Paraguayan soldiers disperse. When the barrage stopped, Belgrano requested an armistice, telling Cabañas that he had arrived to Paraguay to aid and not to conquer; considering the open hostility with which he was met, he would leave the province. Cabañas accepted, on the grounds that the remaining group must leave the province within a day. The campaign to Paraguay was a complete military defeat for Belgrano. However, the aftermath of the conflict led the Paraguayans to replace Belazco with a local junta, and declare independence from Spain. Under the rule of José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, Paraguay broke ties with Buenos Aires as well, and stayed isolated for several years afterwards.

After the defeat in Tacuarí, the government of Buenos Aires (which by then was the First Triumvirate) issued a series of conflicting orders. First they requested he should fight the royalists in the Banda Oriental, then to return to the city and be judged for the defeats. However, no charges were formulated against him. He was appointed as the head of the Regiment of Patricians, replacing the banished Cornelio Saavedra, but the troops did not accept him and started the Braids Mutiny. After that, the Triumvirate requested that he fortify Rosario against possible royalist attacks from the Banda Oriental. Belgrano created two batteries, "Independencia" ("Independence") and "Libertad" ("Freedom"). After realising that both patriots and royalists were fighting under the same colours, he created the cockade of Argentina, of light blue and white, the use of which was approved by the Triumvirate. The reasons for the colours are usually considered to be either loyalty to the House of Bourbon or his esteem of the Virgin Mary. Belgrano created a flag with the same colours, which was hoisted at Rosario near the Paraná River on 27 February 1812. On that same day he was appointed to replace Pueyrredon in the Army of the North, so he travelled to Yatasto. He found demoralised officials, nearly 1,500 soldiers (a quarter of them hospitalised), minimal artillery, and no money. Some of the officials were Manuel Dorrego, Gregorio Aráoz de Lamadrid, Cornelio Zelaya, José María Paz, Diego Balcarce, and Eustaquio Díaz Vélez. The cities were much more hostile to the Army than those that Belgrano encountered on his way into Paraguay. Salta was menaced by the royalist general José Manuel de Goyeneche; Belgrano had orders to take command and retreat without fighting, but he disobeyed. He prepared a base at Campo Santo, in Salta, where he improved the hospital and created a military tribunal. He later moved to Jujuy, knowing that he did not have the resources to launch an attack on Upper Peru. The First Triumvirate did not approve the use of the flag created in Rosario, but Belgrano was initially unaware of that. He had the flag blessed by the priest Juan Ignacio de Gorriti at Salta, on the second anniversary of the May Revolution. When he found out the flag was not approved, he put it away. When asked, he would say that he was keeping it for a great victory. Three months later royalist general Pío Tristán advanced in the north with more than three thousand men, prepared to invade the United Provinces. Once again outnumbered by larger armies, Belgrano organised a great exodus of the city of Jujuy: the entire population of the city would have to retreat with the army and not leave behind anything that might be of value to the royalists (such as animals, crops, or housing). By September a proper formation of columns provided them with a victory against a royalist task force of 500 men during the Battle of Las Piedras. The First Triumvirate commanded Belgrano to retreat to Cordoba without fighting, but he thought that doing so would mean the loss of the northern provinces. By that time, the First Triumvirate was replaced by the Second Triumvirate, which provided greater support for Belgrano. The Second Triumvirate called the Assembly of Year XIII soon after taking power, which was intended to declare independence and enact a national constitution but failed to do so because of political disputes between the members. It did not take measures regarding the national flag but allowed Belgrano to use the blue and white flag as the flag of the Army of the North. By September, he provided assistance to the troops commanded by José Miguel Díaz Vélez. This infantry was fighting a 600 strong royalist cavalry. Through Belgrano's reinforcements, they eventually won the battle and captured the city of Tucumán. These victories ensured Argentine authority in the northwest and stopped the royalist advance into the central territory. Although there were a number of colonialist 'invasions' from Upper Peru until 1821, Belgrano's campaign is widely considered the decisive one.

By June 1813 Belgrano set up a base in Potosí with an army of 2,500 men, to prepare an attack on Upper Peru. Goyeneche moved to Oruro and resigned, being replaced by Joaquín de la Pezuela. Belgrano administrated the zone and tried to revert the bad impression left by the previous campaign of Juan José Castelli. Belgrano initiated good relations with the natives as well. Belgrano's plan was to attack the royalists from the front and the sides, with the aid of the armies of Cárdenas and Zelaya. Both armies were near 3,500 men. However, the royalists obtained an important advantage by defeating Cárdenas and getting possession of his papers, which gave them insight into the patriotic plans. Belgrano was taken by surprise at Vilcapugio on 1 October, and initially gained the upper hand against the royalist troops, who started to flee. However, when Pezuela saw that the patriotic armies were not following, he reorganised his forces, returned to the battle, and won. There were barely 400 survivors. Belgrano said: "Soldiers: we have lost the battle after so much fighting. Victory has betrayed us by going to the enemy ranks during our triumph. It does not matter! The flag of the nation still swings in our hands!". After gathering his army at Macha, where he received reinforcements from Cochabamba, Belgrano was ready for another engagement with Pezuela, whose troops were not in a better situation. On 14 November, Belgrano was again vanquished by the royalists at Ayohuma, and was forced to withdraw the remains of his army towards Potosí and from there to Jujuy. The Second Triumvirate reacted by sending José de San Martín to take the command of the Army of the North, with Belgrano as his second in command. San Martín would reinforce the battle weary Army of the North with his own soldiers. Hastened by Belgrano's illness, San Martín travelled to the rendezvous as quickly as possible; they met at the Yatasto relay, in Salta. Belgrano gave San Martin full freedom to implement changes and took command of the First Regiment. The Second Triumvirate, and later the Supreme Director Gervasio Posadas, requested Belgrano to return to Buenos Aires and be judged for the defeats at Vilcapugio and Ayohuma, but San Martín refused to send him because of his poor health. San Martín finally agreed to send Belgrano to Córdoba by March 1814. He temporarily settled in Luján to await outcome of the trial, and during this time he wrote his autobiography. Soon afterwards, all charges against Belgrano were dismissed, as no definite accusation was formulated against him. The new government, trusting in Belgrano's diplomatic abilities, sent him on a mission to Europe to negotiate support for the independence of the United Provinces.

By 1814 the Spanish King Ferdinand VII had returned to the throne and started the Absolutist Restoration, which had grave consequences for the governments in the Americas. Belgrano and Bernardino Rivadavia were sent to Europe to seek support for the United Provinces from both Spain and Britain. They sought to promote the crowning of Francisco de Paula, son of Charles IV of Spain, as regent of the United Provinces, but in the end he refused to act against the interests of the King of Spain. The diplomatic mission failed, but Belgrano learned of changes in ideology that had taken place in Europe since his previous visit. With the influence of the French Revolution, there had been a great consensus for making republican governments. After the government of Napoleon I, monarchies were preferred again, but in the form of constitutional monarchies, such as in Britain. He also noticed that the European powers approved of the South American revolutions, but the approval was compromised when the countries started to fall into anarchy. Belgrano met with the Congress of Tucuman on 6 July 1816 to explain the results of his diplomatic mission in Europe. He thought that enacting a local monarchy would help to prevent anarchy, which would not end simply with independence from Spain. He felt a declaration of independence would be more easily accepted by the European powers if it created a monarchic system. To this end he formulated the Inca Plan: a monarchy ruled by a noble of the Inca civilisation. He thought that this would generate support from the indigenous populations as well, and repair the actions taken against the Inca by the Spanish colonisation. On 9 July the Congress finally signed the Declaration of Independence from Spain. The flag created by Belgrano, which was being used without a law regulating it, was accepted as the national flag. The Inca Plan was still under discussion, but the Congress delayed it due to several states of emergency in the provinces caused by the war. In August Belgrano again took command of the Army of the North, but with very limited people and resources. He was ordered to avoid trying to advance against the royalists in the north and was to stay in a defensive state at Tucumán. With Güemes in Salta, his task was to prevent the Royalists from moving to the south. The Supreme Director Pueyrredón was supporting an alternative plan designed by José de San Martín: create the Army of the Andes at Cuyo and, after making the Crossing of the Andes, defeat the royalists in Chile, get control of the Chilean navy, and attack the royalist stronghold of Lima with it.

In 1819 Buenos Aires was at war with José Gervasio Artigas and Estanislao López and requested San Martín and Belgrano to return with their armies to take part in the conflict. San Martín refused to do so, but Belgrano accepted. However, before his arrival the governors Estanislao López and Juan José Viamonte signed an eight day truce to start peace negotiations. Belgrano's health was in a very bad state by this point, but he refused to resign, thinking that the morale of the Army would suffer without his presence. He moved to the frontier between Santa Fe and Córdoba, from where he would be able to move to either the litoral or the north if needed. His health continued to worsen, and he was given an unlimited leave from work by the Supreme Director. He handed command to Fernández de la Cruz and moved to Tucumán, where he met his daughter Manuela Mónica, just one year old. The governor of Tucuman, Feliciano de la Motta, was deposed during his stay, and Belgrano was taken prisoner. Abraham González led the uprising and attempted to put Belgrano into a shrew's fiddle, but Belgrano's doctor Josef Redhead objected, because of his delicate health, and his sentence was changed to simple imprisonment. When Bernabé Araoz took control of the government of Tucumán, Belgrano was immediately released. He returned to Buenos Aires, to his parents' house. By that time the Battle of Cepeda had ended the authority of the Supreme Directors, starting the period known as Anarchy of the year 20. On 20 June 1820, at the age of 50, Belgrano died of dropsy. Due to his poverty, as the war consumed all his old wealth, he paid his doctor with his clock and his carriage, some of the few possessions he still had. As requested, he was shrouded into the robes of the Dominican Order and buried in the Santo Domingo convent. Before dying, Belgrano said "Ay, Patria mía" (in Spanish, "Oh, my Fatherland"). Due to the state of anarchy being experienced by the city, Belgrano's death was largely unnoticed. The only newspaper of the time to note his death was El Despertador Teofilantrópico, written by Francisco de Paula Castañeda, and there was no government representation at his funeral. Former students of his educative institutions would arrive in the following days with obsequies, when the news started to be known. The following year the political context was less chaotic and Bernardino Rivadavia, who was minister by then, organised a massive state funeral. In 1902, during the presidency of Julio Argentino Roca, Belgrano's body was exhumed from the atrium of Santo Domingo, to be moved into a mausoleum. This was done on 4 September, by a government commission which included Dr. Joaquín V. González (ministry of interior), Pablo Riccheri (ministry of war), Gabriel L. Souto (president of the commission), Fray Modesto Becco (from the convent), Carlos Vega Belgrano and coronel Manuel Belgrano (descendants of Belgrano), Dr. Armando Claros (subsecretary of the Interior), Dr. Marcial Quiroga (Health Inspector of the Army), Dr. Carlos Malbrán (president of the National Department of Health), Coronel Justo Domínguez, and doctors Luis Peluffo and C. Massot (Arsenal of War). The exhumation revealed a number of preserved bones, pieces of wood, and nails. The bones were placed on a silver plate, and the following day there was a great controversy in the press: the newspaper La Prensa announced that Joaquín V. González and Riccheri had stolen a pair of teeth. Both were returned the following day. Gonzalez declared that he intended to show the tooth to his friends, and Riccheri that he took one to Belgrano's biographer, Bartolomé Mitre.

Manuel Belgrano met María Josefa Ezcurra, sister of Encarnación Ezcurra, at the age of 22. Her father, Juan Ignacio Ezcurra, did not approve of their relationship because of the bankruptcy of Domingo Belgrano, Manuel's father. Juan Ignacio arranged the wedding of his daughter with Juan Esteban Ezcurra, a distant relative from Pamplona that worked selling clothes. Juan Ignacio opposed the May Revolution and returned to Spain, leaving his wife in Buenos Aires, which allowed her to return to her former relationship with Belgrano. Nevertheless, he requested that his brother, Joaquín Eulogio Estanislao Belgrano, who was appointed as his heir, should look after his newborn daughter. Despite this, he was a devout Catholic and a member of the Third Order of Saint Dominic.

The first biography of Manuel Belgrano was his autobiography, which he wrote by the time he was stationed in Lujan. It long remained unpublished. His first biography written by someone else was "Bosquejo histórico del General Don Manuel Belgrano" (Historical stub on General Don Manuel Belgrano), authored by José Ignacio Álvarez Thomas. Álvarez Thomas wrote it during his exile at Colonia del Sacramento, and his work had a high political bias. The historian Bartolomé Mitre wrote Historia de Belgrano y de la Independencia Argentina (lang es), whose scope expanded on the simple biography of Belgrano himself and detailed instead the Argentine War of Independence as a whole. The work followed the Great Man theory, linking the success in the war of independence to the figure of Belgrano and his natal Buenos Aires. This book included the autobiography of Belgrano as well, which was discovered by Mitre. The book was criticised by contemporary Argentine authors, such as Dalmacio Vélez Sarsfield and Juan Bautista Alberdi, born in other provinces, and Vicente Fidel López. Vélez Sarsfield dismissed the Great Man theory and maintained that the work of the other provinces for the Argentine independence was as important as that of Buenos Aires. These disputes about Belgrano are considered the starting point of the Historiography of Argentina. Historiographical studies of Manuel Belgrano are currently held by the Belgranian National Institute.

Belgrano appears on a number of currencies in the numismatic history of Argentina. He appeared for the first time on the banknotes of 1, 5, and 10 pesos according to the Peso Ley 18.188, in effect from 1970 to 1983. He was later included on the 10,000 pesos banknotes of the pesos argentinos, the highest banknote value in circulation. The Argentine austral had a number of political and military figures that did not include Belgrano, but later the 10,000 pesos argentinos banknotes were allowed to be used as australes. The current Argentine peso displays Belgrano on 10 peso banknote. The 1997 and 2002 series only modified small details.