Reports that French forces had taken Seville and that Spain’s Supreme Central Junta had collapsed (replaced by a Regency Council) reached Buenos Aires, sharpening the legitimacy crisis over viceregal authority and setting the immediate context for May Week.
On the afternoon of 21 May, a large crowd—associated in many accounts with Domingo French and Antonio Beruti—pressed the Cabildo to convene an open cabildo and demanded political change, helping ensure the extraordinary meeting would occur.
At the Cabildo Abierto (open town council) of Buenos Aires, attendees debated sovereignty and the viceroy’s legitimacy, voting to remove Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros and to form a new governing authority.
Despite the open cabildo’s decision, the Cabildo created a new junta that kept Cisneros as president and commander, a maneuver that sparked immediate opposition and intensified street pressure for a junta without the viceroy.
After sustained public pressure, Cisneros was removed and the Primera Junta (First Junta) was constituted in Buenos Aires, formally claiming to govern in the name of the captive King Ferdinand VII while beginning a break from viceregal rule.
The Buenos Aires government moved to broaden its legitimacy by sending communications to interior cabildos urging them to elect deputies to join the governing body in Buenos Aires, a key step toward a larger, more representative junta.
The new government reorganized existing militia units and created a standing force often treated as the institutional starting point of the Argentine Army, enabling revolutionary expeditions to secure adherence in the provinces.
The government newspaper Gazeta de Buenos Ayres released its first issue, serving as an official channel for decrees, news, and revolutionary political argument—an early cornerstone of public political communication.
An expeditionary force organized under Junta authority departed Buenos Aires to confront counter-revolution in Córdoba and to project authority toward the interior and Upper Peru, marking the transition from political rupture to armed enforcement.
After the failed royalist uprising centered in Córdoba, former viceroy Santiago de Liniers was executed at Cabeza de Tigre, signaling the Junta’s willingness to employ severe measures against counterrevolutionary leadership.
Revolutionary forces sent by Buenos Aires won at Suipacha in Upper Peru, widely treated as the first decisive military success for the May Revolution’s cause and a boost to the Junta’s authority and momentum.
The Primera Junta issued the Honours Suppression decree, designed by Mariano Moreno, abolishing ceremonial and social privileges for junta members (including special honors for its president) and reinforcing an explicitly republican political style.
After sustained disputes over representation and power—amid growing opposition to Mariano Moreno—the Primera Junta incorporated provincial deputies and was reconstituted as the Junta Grande, ending the transitional government phase that began on 25 May.
May Revolution and the Buenos Aires transitional governments (May–December 1810)
