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Unitarists (Spanish Unitarios) was the name under which the liberal concept of a centralised government in Buenos Aires was known, during the years of civil war, short after the Declaration of Independence of Argentina in 1816, and opposed to the Federalism.

The Argentine War of Independence saw the forces of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata fighting the Spanish Royalists that attempted to regain control of their American colonies after the Napoleonic Wars.

After the victorious May Revolution of 1810, discrepancies between the powerful Buenos Aires Province, and the other provinces started to arise, and were tangible during the declaration of independence of 1816.

The Unitarians lost their controlling power in 1820 after the Battle of Cepeda that left the central government divided between Buenos Aires and other of the most powerful provinces.

After the unsuccessful attempt of the 1826 Constitution, the Unitarians charged against the provincial Federal Caudillos, and achieved the control over part of the provinces. But in 1835 Juan Manuel de Rosas became Federal governor from Buenos Aires (although Rosas's Federalism is often questioned).

Since then, many attempted to defeat Rosas, most notably Juan Lavalle, in a series of more internal wars that lasted around two more decades. Entre Ríos Province Caudillo Justo José de Urquiza, together with support from other provinces, finally defeated Rosas at the Battle of Caseros on February 3 1852.

Yet the conflicts didn't end there. Unhappy with Urquiza's appointed governor Vicente López y Planes, the Federals started a revolution commanded by Valentín Alsina to re-gain the control of the province. Upon the creation of the Constitution in 1853, the notion of an unified Confederation grew stronger, but it was not until after the Battle of Pavón in 1861 that a notion of national unification, under the presidency of Bartolomé Mitre, emerged.

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