of November, the
radicals at Rio de Janeiro, aided by the garrison, broke out in open
revolt. Proclaiming the establishment of a federal republic under
the name of the "United States of Brazil," they deposed the imperial
ministry, set up a provisional government with Deodoro da Fonseca at its
head, arranged for the election of a constitutional convention, and bade
Dom Pedro and his family leave the country within twenty-four hours.

On the 17th of November, before daybreak, the summons was obeyed. Not
a soul appeared to bid the old Emperor farewell as he and his family
boarded the steamer that was to bear them to exile in Europe. Though
seemingly an act of heartlessness and ingratitude, the precaution was
a wise one in that it averted, possible conflict and bloodshed. For the
second time in its history, a fundamental change had been wrought in
the political system of the nation without a resort to war! The United
States of Brazil accordingly took its place peacefully among its fellow
republics of the New World.

Meanwhile Argentina, the great neighbor of Brazil to the southwest, had
been gaining territory and new resources. Since the definite adoption
of a federal constitution in 1853, this state had attained to a
considerable degree of national consciousness under the leadership of
able presidents such as Bartolome Mitre, the soldier and historian,
and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, the publicist and promoter of popular
education. One evidence of this new nationalism was a widespread
belief in the necessity of territorial expansion. Knowing that Chile
entertained designs upon Patagonia, the Argentine Government forestalled
any action by conducting a war of practical extermination against the
Indian tribes of that region and by adding it to the national domain.
The so-called "conquest of the desert" in the far south of the continent
opened to civilization a vast habitable area of untold economic
possibilities.

In the electoral campaign of 1880 the presidential candidates were Julio
Argentino Roca and the Governor of the province of Buenos Aires. The
former, an able officer skilled in both arms and politics, had on
his side the advantage of a reputation won in the struggle with the
Patagonian Indians, the approval of the national Government, and the
support of most of the provinces. Feeling certain of defeat at the
polls, the partisans of the latter candidate resorted to the timeworn
expedient of a revolt. Though the u