page_title: History of Uruguay
section_title: 1872 power-sharing agreement
hierarchical_section_title: History of Uruguay / Social and economic developments up to 1900 / 1872 power-sharing agreement
caption_attribution_description: Fotografía de fuerzas de artillería gubernamentales de Uruguay en el marco de la revolución de 1904, ubicadas en las serranías del norte.
context_page_description: The history of Uruguay comprises different periods: the pre-Columbian time or early history, the colonial period, the period of nation-building, and the history of Uruguay as an independent country.
context_section_description: The government of General Lorenzo Batlle y Grau (1868–1872) suppressed the Revolution of the Lances with started in September 1872 under the leadership of Blancos leader Timoteo Aparacio. After two years of struggle, a peace agreement was signed on 6 April 1872 when a power-sharing agreement was signed giving the Blancos control over four out of the thirteen departments of Uruguay – Canelones, San Jose, Florida and Cerro Largo – and a guaranteed, if limited representation in Parliament. This establishment of the policy of co-participation represented the search for a new formula of compromise, based on the co-existence of the party in power and the party in opposition.
  Despite this agreement, Colorado rule was threatened by the failed Tricolor Revolution in 1875 and the Revolution of the Quebracho in 1886. The Colorado effort to reduce the Blancos to only three departments caused a Blanco uprising of 1897, that ended with the creation of 16 departments, of which the Blancos now had control over six. The Blancos were given one third of the seats in Congress. This division of power lasted until President Jose Batlle y Ordonez instituted his political reforms which caused the last uprising by the Blancos in 1904 which ended with the Battle of Masoller and the death of Blanco leader Aparicio Saravia.
caption: Government artillery unit during the Blanco uprising of 1904
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