May Revolution
The May Revolution was not the product of the actions of a single political party with a clear and defined agenda, but a convergence of sectors with varying interests. Thus, there are a number of conflicting perspectives about it, because different authors highlight different aspects. Mitre, for example, referred to "The Representation of the Landowners" (an 1809 economic report by Mariano Moreno) and the role of the merchants to support the view that the May Revolution intended to obtain free trade and economic integration with Europe; right-wing revisionists center around Saavedra and the social customs of the time to describe the revolution under conservative principles; and left-wing revisionists use the example of Moreno, Castelli and the rioters led by French and Beruti to describe it as a radical revolution.
Mercedes de Lasala de Riglos
Mercedes de Riglos was among the well-to-do women of Buenos Aires who held weekly social gatherings that were open to anyone introduced by a friend.
Similar "tertulias" were being held during this period in Lima, Peru, by women such as Manuela Rábago de Avellafuertes de Riglos and Narcisa Arias de Saavaedra.
It was at meetings at her house and those of other society women such as Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson and Flora Azcuénaga that the discussions were held which led up to the May Revolution, the first stage in the struggle for Argentine independence from Spain.
William Parish Robertson, an English merchant, visited Buenos Aires around the end of 1817.
He wrote much later,