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Colombia New Granada
New Granada lay in a depressed state after the
dissolution of
Gran Colombia. None of the country's three principal
economic
bases--agriculture, ranching, and mining--was healthy. The
import
trade was limited to a small group, the banking industry
was
inadequate, and craftsmen and small manufacturers could
supply only
enough for local consumption. Despite the desire and need
for
change, New Granada retained slavery, the sales tax, and a
state
monopoly on the production and trade of tobacco and
alcohol. The
problems facing the country, the discontent of liberal
groups who
saw the constitution as being monarchical, and the
military's
desire for power culminated in the fall of the
constitutional order
and the installation in 1830 of the eight-month
dictatorship of
General Rafael Urdaneta. After Bolívar's death in December
1830,
however, civilian and military leaders called for the
restoration
of legitimate authority. Urdaneta was forced to cede power
to
Caicedo as the legitimate president.
In October 1831, Caicedo convened a commission to write
a new
constitution for New Granada. Finished in 1832, the new
constitution restricted the power of the presidency and
expanded
the autonomy of the regional administrative subdivisions
known as
departments (departamentos). Santander assumed the
presidency in 1832 and was succeeded in 1837 by his vice
president,
José Ignacio de Márquez. Personalism and regionalism
remained key
elements in national politics in a country with small
cities, a
weak state, and a semifeudal population that was bound to
the large
landowners in patron-client relationships.
During the Márquez administration, the political
divisions in
the country reached a breaking point. In 1840 the
political
ambitions of some department governors, the constitutional
weakness
of the president, and the suppression of some Roman
Catholic
monasteries in Pasto combined to ignite a civil war that
ended with
the victory of the government forces led by General Pedro
Alcántara
Herrán. This triumph brought Herrán to the presidency with
the next
election in 1841. In 1843 his administration instituted a
new
constitution, which stipulated a greater centralization of
power.
In 1845 Tomás Ciprianode Mosquera succeeded Herrán.
Personalism
as an important element in politics abated during his
administration. The Mosquera government also saw the
economic and
political ascendancy of merchants, artisans, and small
property
owners. Mosquera liberalized trade and set New Granada on
the path
of exporting primary goods.
The election of General José Hilario López as president
in 1849
marked a turning point for Colombia both economically and
politically. Capitalism began to replace the old colonial
structure, and the ideological differences between the
established
political parties overshadowed the previous emphasis on
personalism. In 1850 the López administration instituted a
socalled agrarian reform program and abolished slavery. In
order to
allow landowners access to more land, the agrarian reform
program
lifted the restrictions on the sale of resguardo
lands; as
a result, Indians became displaced from the countryside
and moved
to the cities, where they provided excess labor. In 1851
the
government ended the state monopoly on tobacco cultivation
and
trade and declared an official separation of church and
state. In
addition, López took the education system from the hands
of the
church and subjected parish priests to popular elections.
Data as of December 1988
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