200 years of Shared History: Argentina and United States | EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA

“200 YEARS OF SHARED HISTORY: ARGENTINA AND UNITED STATES”

Welcome to the US Embassy’s webpage on “200 years of Shared History: Argentina and United States”. As part of the Argentine bicentennial, we are delighted to share with you the important government and people-to-people connections our two great countries have had over the past two hundred years.

The United States of America and the Argentine Republic are the oldest independent states in the continents of North and South America. In breaking their ties with England, North Americans set a pattern for the Hemisphere. In severing their allegiance to Spain, Argentines broke ground for all Hispanic Americans.

James Madison, President of the U.S. (1809-1817) sent Joel Roberts Poinsett to Buenos Aires in 1820 to act as “an agent with the people of the sea and as a trade agent”. President Madison’s decision to send an agent to such a turbulent region was an extraordinary event in the evolution of American foreign policy: the United States government had never previously sent a representative to an unrecognized state.

Secretary of State Robert Smith gave him the following instructions: “Your objectives will be (…) to spread the idea that the U.S. has the most sincere disposition towards its neighbors from Latin America and considers friendly exchanges as mutually beneficial; to make sure that this arrangement will exist no matter the internal system or the relationship with Europe”.

The two states established diplomatic relations in 1822. The United States was the first non-Latin nation to grant the long-anticipated recognition. Argentine Foreign Minister Bernardino Rivadavia praised President James Monroe, his government and the American people. In 1823, Mr. Caesar A. Rodney was appointed as the first Commissioned Minister in Buenos Aires. Carlos María de Alvear was appointed as Argentina’s first Minister Plenipotentiary in Washington, DC.