Joaquín V. González
Encyclopedia
Joaquín Víctor González (March 6, 1863 — December 21, 1923) was an Argentine educator, political scientist, writer, magistrate, and politician.
, a rural community near Chilecito
, La Rioja Province
, in 1863. He enrolled at the Colegio de Monserrat, a college preparatory school in Córdoba
, and in 1881, entered the labor force as a journalist. He worked for a number of local journals in subsequent years, including El Interior, El Progreso, and La Revista de Córdoba, and taught History
, Geography
, and French
at the local normal school
.
at the University of Córdoba
in 1886, and returned to La Rioja Province, for which he served as counsel in a territorial dispute with Córdoba Province
. Later that year, he was elected to the Lower House of Congress
, a post to which he would be re-elected three times, serving until 1901.
As Congressman, he was appointed to the Commission for Constitutional Reform in 1887, and subsequently drafted the Provincial Constitution of La Rioja. He published his first work, La Revolución de la Independencia Argentina, and joined La Prensa
, at the time one of the leading news dailies of Buenos Aires
.
He taught Mining Law at the University of Buenos Aires
, and in 1889, married the former Amalia Luno Olmos. He was elected Governor of La Rioja that year, and during his tenure, wrote La Tradición nacional (1891), a study of regionalism
s and their basis in geography and history. Returning to Buenos Aires, he was made a tenured professor of Mining Law, a member of the board of the University of Buenos Aires School of Philosophy and Letters, and, in 1896, a member of the National Educational Council
.
President Julio Roca appointed González Minister of Internal Affairs in 1901. Occupying at times the posts of Minister of Justice, Government and Foreign Relations in a caretaker capacity, González nonetheless lent his academic expertise to numerous symposia on legal theory, as in the 1902 seminar, El ideal de la Justicia y la vida contemporánea. As Home Secretary
, he decentralized the nation's voting precinct system, by which he arguably made possible the election of a number of candidates opposed by the ruling party, notably Socialist candidate Alfredo Palacios
, who in 1904 was elected the nation's (and Latin America's) first Socialist Cogressman.
González himself was politically conservative, however, and when asked for his opinion on the political debate of the day (the granting of universal suffrage
), he bluntly replied that it would be "the glory of universal ignorance!" He continued to write, and published Mis montañas (My Mountains), an ode to the Talampaya landscape of his childhood, in 1903.
President Manuel Quintana
appointed him Minister of Justice and Education in 1904, during which term González founded the Seminario Pedagógico, a teacher training school later known as the Instituto Nacional del Profesorado Secundario; staffed mainly with German instructors
, the institution was ultimately renamed in González's honor. He chartered the University of La Plata in 1905, and the following year, was appointed its President; among the departments he incorporated into the university was its affiliated college preparatory school, the Rafael Hernández National College
, and he donated his extensive library, as well as Samay Huasi
, his Chilecito vacation residence, to the university, as well.
, the Royal authority on the Spanish language
, in 1906, and was elected to the Argentine Senate
in 1916 (while still President of the university). Retiring from the latter in 1918, he returned to the University of Buenos Aires, where he taught Constitutional Law
, Public Law
, and a course in the history of Foreign relations of Argentina
. He contributed regularly to La Nación as a columnist, and translated Rabindranath Tagore
's One Hundred Poems of Kabir. He joined the International Law Association
in 1919, and advocated on behalf of the League of Nations
, as well as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
's efforts towards its ratification by a recalcitrant Senate. His most controversial work, Patria y democracia (Fatherland and Democracy), was published in 1920, and delved into regional and political tensions in Argentina. González's efforts on behalf of the League of Nations helped lead to his nomination to the International Court of Justice
at The Hague
, becoming a member in 1921.
González died in Buenos Aires in 1923; he was 60. Fábulas nativas, a work of cultural anthropology
, was published posthumously in 1924, and González left a bibliography of over a thousand works, including fifty books on a variety of academic subjects.
Early life
González was born in NonogastaNonogasta
Nonogasta is a municipality and village in La Rioja Province in northwestern Argentina.-References:...
, a rural community near Chilecito
Chilecito
Chilecito is a city in the Argentine province of La Rioja, and head of the department of Chilecito.-Overview:It's located in the valley formed by the Sierras de Velazco to the east, and the Sierras de Famatina to the west. The city was founded in 1715 by Spanish colonizers...
, La Rioja Province
La Rioja Province (Argentina)
La Rioja is a one of the provinces of Argentina and is located in the west of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Catamarca, Córdoba, San Luis and San Juan.-History:...
, in 1863. He enrolled at the Colegio de Monserrat, a college preparatory school in Córdoba
Córdoba, Argentina
Córdoba is a city located near the geographical center of Argentina, in the foothills of the Sierras Chicas on the Suquía River, about northwest of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of Córdoba Province. Córdoba is the second-largest city in Argentina after the federal capital Buenos Aires, with...
, and in 1881, entered the labor force as a journalist. He worked for a number of local journals in subsequent years, including El Interior, El Progreso, and La Revista de Córdoba, and taught History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
, Geography
Geography
Geography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
, and French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
at the local normal school
Normal school
A normal school is a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose is to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name...
.
Legal and political work
González earned a juris doctorJuris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
at the University of Córdoba
National University of Córdoba
The National University of Córdoba, , is the oldest university in Argentina, and one of the oldest in the Americas. It is located in Córdoba, the capital of Córdoba Province. Since the early 20th century it has been the second largest university in the country in terms of the number of students,...
in 1886, and returned to La Rioja Province, for which he served as counsel in a territorial dispute with Córdoba Province
Córdoba Province (Argentina)
Córdoba is a province of Argentina, located in the center of the country. Neighboring provinces are : Santiago del Estero, Santa Fe, Buenos Aires, La Pampa, San Luis, La Rioja and Catamarca...
. Later that year, he was elected to the Lower House of Congress
Argentine Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Argentine National Congress. This Chamber holds exclusive rights to create taxes, to draft troops, and to accuse the President, the ministers and the members of the Supreme Court before the Senate....
, a post to which he would be re-elected three times, serving until 1901.
As Congressman, he was appointed to the Commission for Constitutional Reform in 1887, and subsequently drafted the Provincial Constitution of La Rioja. He published his first work, La Revolución de la Independencia Argentina, and joined La Prensa
La Prensa (Buenos Aires)
La Prensa is an Argentine daily newspaper.Based in Buenos Aires, it was founded on 18 October 1869 by José C. Paz. La Prensa ranked among the most widely circulated dailies in Argentina in subsequent decades, earning a reputation for conservatism and support for British interests in Argentina...
, at the time one of the leading news dailies of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
He taught Mining Law at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
, and in 1889, married the former Amalia Luno Olmos. He was elected Governor of La Rioja that year, and during his tenure, wrote La Tradición nacional (1891), a study of regionalism
Regionalism
In politics, regionalism is a political ideology that focuses on the interests of a particular region or group of regions, whether traditional or formal...
s and their basis in geography and history. Returning to Buenos Aires, he was made a tenured professor of Mining Law, a member of the board of the University of Buenos Aires School of Philosophy and Letters, and, in 1896, a member of the National Educational Council
Pizzurno Palace
The Pizzurno Palace, as the "Sarmiento Palace" is commonly known, is an architectural landmark in the Recoleta section of Buenos Aires and the location of the Argentine Ministry of Education.-Overview:...
.
President Julio Roca appointed González Minister of Internal Affairs in 1901. Occupying at times the posts of Minister of Justice, Government and Foreign Relations in a caretaker capacity, González nonetheless lent his academic expertise to numerous symposia on legal theory, as in the 1902 seminar, El ideal de la Justicia y la vida contemporánea. As Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
, he decentralized the nation's voting precinct system, by which he arguably made possible the election of a number of candidates opposed by the ruling party, notably Socialist candidate Alfredo Palacios
Alfredo Palacios
Alfredo Lorenzo Palacios was an Argentine socialist politician.Palacios was born in Buenos Aires, and studied law at Universidad de Buenos Aires, after graduation he became a lawyer and taught at the university until becoming a dean.In 1902, he was elected to the Buenos Aires' legislature, and in...
, who in 1904 was elected the nation's (and Latin America's) first Socialist Cogressman.
González himself was politically conservative, however, and when asked for his opinion on the political debate of the day (the granting of universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
), he bluntly replied that it would be "the glory of universal ignorance!" He continued to write, and published Mis montañas (My Mountains), an ode to the Talampaya landscape of his childhood, in 1903.
President Manuel Quintana
Manuel Quintana
Manuel Pedro Quintana y Sáenz de Gaona was the President of Argentina from 12 October 1904 to 12 March 1906. He died in office....
appointed him Minister of Justice and Education in 1904, during which term González founded the Seminario Pedagógico, a teacher training school later known as the Instituto Nacional del Profesorado Secundario; staffed mainly with German instructors
Education in Germany
The responsibility for the German education system lies primarily with the states while the federal government plays only a minor role. Optional Kindergarten education is provided for all children between three and six years of age, after which school attendance is compulsory, in most cases for...
, the institution was ultimately renamed in González's honor. He chartered the University of La Plata in 1905, and the following year, was appointed its President; among the departments he incorporated into the university was its affiliated college preparatory school, the Rafael Hernández National College
Rafael Hernández National College
The Colegio Nacional Rafael Hernández is one of the four public high schools that are part of the National University of La Plata, in the City of La Plata, Argentina. The Colegio Nacional aegis denotes a school belonging to the system of national secondary schools...
, and he donated his extensive library, as well as Samay Huasi
Samay Huasi
Samay Huasi is a historic property in Argentina functioning as a both a vacation retreat, as well as a museum.-Overview:Located in Chilecito, a town located high in the Pampas Sierras of La Rioja Province, the property originally belonged to William Treloar, a British mining engineer who purchased...
, his Chilecito vacation residence, to the university, as well.
Later life and academic work
González was admitted into the Real Academia EspañolaReal Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, the Royal authority on the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
, in 1906, and was elected to the Argentine Senate
Argentine Senate
The Argentine Senate is the upper house of the Argentine National Congress. It has 72 senators: three for each province and three for the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires...
in 1916 (while still President of the university). Retiring from the latter in 1918, he returned to the University of Buenos Aires, where he taught Constitutional Law
Constitutional law
Constitutional law is the body of law which defines the relationship of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the legislature and the judiciary....
, Public Law
Public law
Public law is a theory of law governing the relationship between individuals and the state. Under this theory, constitutional law, administrative law and criminal law are sub-divisions of public law...
, and a course in the history of Foreign relations of Argentina
Foreign relations of Argentina
This article deals with the diplomatic affairs, foreign policy and international relations of Argentina.At the political level, these matters are officially handled by the Ministry of Foreign Relations, also known as the Cancillería, which answers to the President...
. He contributed regularly to La Nación as a columnist, and translated Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore , sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali polymath who reshaped his region's literature and music. Author of Gitanjali and its "profoundly sensitive, fresh and beautiful verse", he became the first non-European Nobel laureate by earning the 1913 Prize in Literature...
's One Hundred Poems of Kabir. He joined the International Law Association
International Law Association
The International Law Association is a non-profit organization based in Great Britain that — according to its 2004 constitution — promotes "the study, clarification and development of international law" and "the furtherance of international understanding and respect for international law."The ILA...
in 1919, and advocated on behalf of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
, as well as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
's efforts towards its ratification by a recalcitrant Senate. His most controversial work, Patria y democracia (Fatherland and Democracy), was published in 1920, and delved into regional and political tensions in Argentina. González's efforts on behalf of the League of Nations helped lead to his nomination to the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
at The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, becoming a member in 1921.
González died in Buenos Aires in 1923; he was 60. Fábulas nativas, a work of cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology
Cultural anthropology is a branch of anthropology focused on the study of cultural variation among humans, collecting data about the impact of global economic and political processes on local cultural realities. Anthropologists use a variety of methods, including participant observation,...
, was published posthumously in 1924, and González left a bibliography of over a thousand works, including fifty books on a variety of academic subjects.