| Canton of Bellinzona Cantone Bellinzona | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canton of theHelvetic Republic | |||||||||||||||
| 1798–1803 | |||||||||||||||
 TheHelvetic Republic, as at the constitution of 12 April 1798, showing the canton of Bellinzona in green, lower-centre.Lugano is shown adjacent, in orange-brown. | |||||||||||||||
| Capital | Bellinzona | ||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||
| April 12, 1798 | |||||||||||||||
• Canton established | 14 April 1798 | ||||||||||||||
| 19 February 1803 | |||||||||||||||
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Bellinzona was the name of acanton of theHelvetic Republic, with its capital inBellinzona.
The canton was founded in 1798 with the sloganLiberi e svizzeri (Italian forFreemen and Swiss) as a means of remaining a part of Switzerland, rather than being annexed to theCisalpineclient republic. The canton was made up of the fourLandvogteien ofBellinzona,Blenio,Leventina andRivera.
The autonomy enjoyed by Bellinzona was quite limited, exposed as the canton was to both external intervention and pressure from the warring parties north of the Alps. Within days of the cantons' founding, the Swiss Grand Council proposed merging Bellinzona withLugano; in order not to provoke local conflicts, however, the measure was rapidly reversed. Another abortive attempt was made, by the two cantons in question this time, to investigate a union between them in 1801 but, again, no agreement could be reached.
The cantonal government was headed byGiuseppe Antonio Rusca, a representative of the central government, equipped with broad powers; he was replaced byGiacomo Antonio Sacchi in October 1801. To the central government, the canton sent two senators and eight representatives to the Grand Council.
The new political system was very unpopular with the citizens of the canton; mainly due to the imposition ofdirect taxation and mandatorymilitary service, as well as the dismantling of political structures of theOld Swiss Confederacy and theanti-clerical measures imposed by Napoleon'srevolutionary forces. The struggles in the Republic between theUnitaires and the Federalists caused anti-French unrest to break out in the Leventina — the most northerly part of the canton — in 1799, which led tosecessionist moves, with many in the area wanting to join with nearbyUri, then within the Helveticcanton of Waldstätten.
As was the case with Lugano, the canton suffered particularly from the opposing troops — French, Austrian, and Russian — marching through the region, requiring accommodation and requisition of property, causing the two cantons to become increasingly alienated from the rest of Switzerland.
WithNapoleon'sAct of Mediation abolishing the Helvetic Republic and restoring thesovereignty of the cantons, the merger with Lugano was finally effected, creating theTicino.
