| Summary: | This essay is concerned with the historiographical characterizations of caudillos regimes in Rio de la Plata during the period of the so called Holy Confederation (1830-1852). We consider that the approaches based on “republicanism” or on the notion of “ancient constitution” do not provide an accurate framework to grasp main features of the political praxis of the time and that they also may lead to a justifying comprehension. As alternative, we propose to recover an epocal signifier, that of “paternal government”, to develop an explanation about the cultural background that held up a domestic model of political power. We suggest that the model of the “householder governance”, based on the catholic tradition of the oeconomy, offers a better heuristic tool to understand the regimen of caudillos and their extraordinary powers.
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