Artigas Demands a Confederation in the Instructions of 1813

In the early nineteenth century, the Napoleonic invasion of Spain threw the Spanish Empire into crisis and prompted South American territories to reconsider colonial rule. When Buenos Aires replaced the royal viceroy during the May Revolution in 1810, the royalist administration in Montevideo remained loyal to the Spanish crown, declaring war on the newly formed government across the Rio de la Plata. In the Banda Oriental, rural populations grew increasingly hostile to the heavy financial exactions of the royalists. José Gervasio Artigas, a former Spanish colonial officer who had joined the Corps of Blandengues in 1797, allied with the revolutionary authorities in Buenos Aires to organize an insurgency in the countryside.

Artigas established his authority as a revolutionary commander in 1811 when his forces defeated the royalist army at the Battle of Las Piedras. Patriot troops encircled Montevideo, but the threat of Portuguese troops called in by the viceroy dramatically altered the military situation. Facing multiple setbacks across the region, Buenos Aires concluded a truce with the royalists that returned administrative authority over the Banda Oriental to colonial officials. Artigas regarded the settlement as a betrayal of local interests. Breaking his ties with the leadership in Buenos Aires, he withdrew his forces into Entre Rios, accompanied by a mass migration of civilian supporters that became known as the Oriental exodus.