The canton was founded in 1798 with the slogan Liberi e svizzeri (Italian for Freemen and Swiss) as a means of remaining a part of Switzerland, rather than being annexed to the Cisalpine client republic.

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 with Lugano; 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.

With Napoleon's Act of Mediation abolishing the Helvetic Republic and restoring the sovereignty of the cantons, the merger with Lugano was finally effected, creating the Ticino.