the weak governments of balcarce and viamonte led the legislature to request rosas to take the government once more. for doing so he requested the sum of public power, which the legislature denied four times. rosas even resigned as commander of militias to influence the legislature. the context changed with the social commotion generated by the death of facundo quiroga, responsibility for which is disputed (different authors attribute it to estanislao lópez, the reinafé brothers, or rosas himself). the legislature accepted then to give him the sum of public power. even so, rosas requested confirmation on whenever the people agreed with it, so the legislature organized a referendum about it. every free man within the age of majority living in the city was allowed to vote for "yes" or "no": 9.316 votes supported the release of the sum of public power on rosas, and only 4 rejected it. there are divided opinions on the topic: domingo faustino sarmiento compared rosas with historical dictators, while josé de san martín considered that the situation in the country was so chaotic that a strong authority was needed to create order.