Editing History of Chile (section)

===Conservative Era (1830–1861)===
{{Main|Conservative Republic}}
[[File:DPortales.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Diego Portales]]]]
Although never president, [[Diego Portales]] dominated Chilean politics from the cabinet and behind the scenes from 1830 to 1837. He installed the "autocratic republic", which centralized authority in the national government. His political program enjoyed support from merchants, large landowners, foreign capitalists, the church, and the military. Political and economic stability reinforced each other, as Portales encouraged economic growth through free trade and put government finances in order. Portales was an agnostic who said that he believed in the clergy but not in God. He realized the importance of the Roman Catholic Church as a bastion of loyalty, legitimacy, social control and stability, as had been the case in the colonial period. He repealed Liberal reforms that had threatened church privileges and properties.

The "Portalian State" was institutionalized by the [[Chilean Constitution of 1833]]. One of the most durable charters ever devised in Latin America, the Portalian constitution lasted until 1925. The constitution concentrated authority in the national government, more precisely, in the hands of the president, who was elected by a tiny minority. The chief executive could serve two consecutive five-year terms and then pick a successor. Although the Congress had significant budgetary powers, it was overshadowed by the president, who appointed provincial officials. The constitution also created an independent judiciary, guaranteed inheritance of estates by primogeniture, and installed Catholicism as the state religion. In short, it established an autocratic system under a republican veneer.

Portales also achieved his objectives by wielding dictatorial powers, censoring the press, and [[electoral fraud|manipulating elections]]. For the next forty years, Chile's armed forces would be distracted from meddling in politics by skirmishes and defensive operations on the [[La Frontera, Chile|southern frontier]], although some units got embroiled in domestic conflicts in [[Revolution of 1851|1851]] and 1859.

The Portalian president was General [[Joaquín Prieto]], who served two terms (1831–1836, 1836–1841). President Prieto had four main accomplishments: implementation of the 1833 constitution, stabilization of government finances, defeat of provincial challenges to central authority, and victory over the Peru-Bolivia Confederation. During the presidencies of Prieto and his two successors, Chile modernized through the construction of ports, railroads, and telegraph lines, some built by United States entrepreneur William Wheelwright. These innovations facilitated the export-import trade as well as domestic commerce.

[[File:Una chingana - Chile.jpg|thumb|[[Fiestas Patrias (Chile)|Fiestas Patrias of Chile]], 1854]]
Prieto and his adviser, Portales, feared the efforts of Bolivian general [[Andrés de Santa Cruz]] to unite with Peru against Chile. These qualms exacerbated animosities toward Peru dating from the colonial period, now intensified by disputes over customs duties and loans. Chile also wanted to become the dominant South American military and commercial power along the Pacific. Santa Cruz united Peru and Bolivia in the [[Peru–Bolivian Confederation]] in 1836 with a desire to expand control over Argentina and Chile. Portales got Congress to declare war on the Confederation. Portales was killed by traitors in 1837. The general [[Manuel Bulnes]] defeated the Confederation in the [[Battle of Yungay]] in 1839.

After his success Bulnes was elected president in 1841. He served two terms (1841–1846, 1846–1851). His administration concentrated on the occupation of the territory, especially [[Chilean colonization of the Strait of Magellan|the Strait of Magellan]] and the [[Araucanía (historic region)|Araucanía]]. The Venezuelan [[Andrés Bello|Andres Bello]] made important intellectual advances in this period, most notably the creation of the [[University of Santiago, Chile|University of Santiago]]. But political tensions, including a liberal rebellion, led to the [[1851 Chilean Revolution|Chilean Civil War of 1851]]. In the end the conservatives defeated the liberals.

The last conservative president was [[Manuel Montt]], who also served two terms (1851–1856, 1856–1861), but his poor administration led to the liberal rebellion in 1859. Liberals triumphed in 1861 with the election of [[José Joaquín Perez|Jose Joaquin Perez]] as president.

[[File:Borders Chile 1879 and 2006.png|thumb|upright|Map showing changes of territory due to the [[War of the Pacific]]]]