Domingo Faustino Sarmiento

**Domingo Faustino Sarmiento** (15 February 1811 – 11 September 1888) was an Argentine politician, writer, teacher, journalist, military officer, and statesman. He served as President of Argentina from 1868 to 1864.

He is considered a great Castilian prose writer. He collaborated both in public education and in the scientific progress of his country.

### Birth and family

He was born on February 15, 1811, in a house in the Carrascal neighborhood, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city of San Juan, capital of the current province of the same name, the son of José Clemente Cecilio Quiroga Sarmiento and Paula Zoila Albarracín Irrazábal. His baptismal name was "Faustino Valentín Quiroga Sarmiento."

The names were given to him by the saints of that name, Saint Valentine and Saint Faustino, the latter of which was the name of his birth. However, neither his family nor his friends called him "Valentín." According to some sources, the name "Domingo" was later given to him by his father's house, and it was traditional for many members of his family to bear or use it. This name did not appear on his birth certificate.

## Presidency of Argentina

Sarmiento was proposed as a candidate for the Presidency of Argentina by a group of Argentine politicians, at the initiative of Colonel Lucio V. Mansilla. While in the United States, he was elected to the position in the national elections of April 1868, and assumed office on October 12, 1868.

Sarmiento's presidency was the second of Argentina's historic presidencies. These historic or founding presidencies of the modern Argentine state had three clear objectives or goals: "nation, constitution, and liberty." The nation was understood as the definitive union of the Argentine provinces as an entity superior to its component parts.

The Constitution was understood as the basis of the rights of individuals and power. Liberty was conceived as the principle of liberalism that gave way to "civilization" and relegated "barbarism."

## Death

Sarmiento died in Asunción, Paraguay, at the age of 77 from a heart attack. He was buried in Buenos Aires.

## Infobox (philosopher)

- **embed**: yes
- **influences**: _1837 generation, Generation of '37_, _The Federalist_, François-Noël Babeuf, Babeuf, Andrés Bello, Bello, Buret, Michel Chevalier, Chevalier, Condorcet, Benjamin Constant, Constant, Victor Cousin, Cousin, Jean Philibert Damiron, Damiron, Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin, Enfantin, Charles Fourier, Fourier, Guizot, Théodore Simon Jouffroy, Jouffroy, :fr:Eugène Lerminier, Lerminier, Pierre Leroux, Leroux, John Locke, Locke, Horace Mann, Mann, John Stuart Mill, Mill, Montesquieu, Robert Owen, Owen, Mary Peabody Mann, Peabody Mann, Jean Reynaud, Reynaud, Rousseau, Henri Saint-Simon, Saint-Simon, Tacitus, Tocqueville, Constantin Francois de Chasseboeuf, Volney
- **influenced**: _1837 generation, Generation of '37_, _Generation of '80_, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Asturias, Andrés Bello, Bello, Jorge Luis Borges, Borges, Mario Bunge, Bunge, Rubén Darío, Darío, Paul Groussac, Groussac, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Henríquez Ureña, José Ingenieros, Ingenieros, Leopoldo Lugones, Lugones, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada, Martínez Estrada, Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo, Menéndez Pelayo, Gabriela Mistral, Mistral, Mary Peabody Mann, Peabody Mann, Juan José Sebreli, Sebreli, Miguel de Unamuno, Unamuno, Mario Vargas Llosa, Vargas Llosa


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **name**: Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
- **image**: Sarmiento.jpg
- **caption**: Portrait,
- **office**: President of Argentina
- **order**: 7th
- **term start**: 12 October 1868
- **term end**: 11 October 1874
- **vicepresident**: Adolfo Alsina
- **predecessor**: Bartolomé Mitre
- **successor**: Nicolás Avellaneda
- **office1**: Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship
- **term start1**: 6 September 1879
- **term end1**: 9 October 1879
- **president1**: Nicolás Avellaneda
- **predecessor1**: Manuel Montes de Oca
- **successor1**: Lucas González
- **office2**: Ministry of the Interior and Transport, Minister of the Interior
- **term start2**: 29 August 1879
- **term end2**: 9 October 1879
- **president2**: Nicolás Avellaneda
- **predecessor2**: Bernardo de Irigoyen
- **successor2**: Benjamín Zorrilla
- **office3**: Governor of San Juan Province, Governor of San Juan
- **term start3**: 3 January 1862
- **term end3**: 9 April 1864
- **predecessor3**: Francisco Domingo Díaz
- **successor3**: Santiago Lloveras
- **birth name**: Faustino Valentín Quiroga Sarmiento
- **birth date**: 15 February 1811
- **birth place**: San Juan, Argentina, San Juan, Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata
- **death place**: Asunción, Paraguay
- **partner**: Aurelia Vélez Sársfield
(1857–1888)
- **children**: Ana Faustina
Domingo Fidel
- **party**: Liberal
- **signature**: Firma de Sarmiento.jpg
- **branch**:  Argentine Army
- **rank**:  Divisional General
- **serviceyears**: 1834–1863