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Honduras The United Provinces of Central America
From its 1823 inception, the new federation (the United
Provinces of Central America) faced a series of ultimately
unresolvable problems. Instead of engendering a spirit of
unity,
Spanish rule had fostered divisions and local suspicions.
In the
case of Honduras, this divisiveness was epitomized by the
rivalry
between Tegucigalpa and Comayagua. There was even some
sentiment
for admitting these two cities as separate provinces
within the
federation, but that proposal was ultimately rejected. In
addition,
much of the region was suspicious of Guatemalan ambitions
to
dominate Central America and wished to retain all possible
local
authority rather than surrender any to a central
government.
At least equally serious was the division of the
politically
active population into conservative and liberal factions.
The
conservatives favored a more centralized government; a
proclerical
policy, including a church monopoly over education; and a
more
aristocratic form of government based on traditional
Spanish
values. The liberals wanted greater local autonomy and a
restricted role for the church, as well as political and
economic
development as in the United States and parts of Western
Europe.
The conservatives favored keeping native people in their
traditional, subservient position, while the liberals
aimed at
eventually eliminating indigenous society by incorporating
it into
the national, Hispanic culture.
At the time of Central American independence (1823),
Honduras
was among the least-developed and least-populated
provinces. In
1824 its population was estimated at just over 137,000.
Despite its
meager population, Honduras produced two of the most
prominent
leaders of the federation, the liberal Francisco Morazán
(nicknamed
the "George Washington of Central America") and the
conservative
José Cecilio del Valle. In 1823 del Valle was narrowly
defeated by
liberal Manuel José Arce for election as the federation's
first
president. Morazán overthrew Arce in 1829 and was elected
president
of the federation in 1830, defeating del Valle.
The beginning of Morazán's administration in 1830 saw
some
efforts to reform and promote education. Success was
limited,
however, because of lack of funds and internal fighting.
In the
elections of 1834, del Valle defeated Morazán, but del
Valle died
before taking office, and the legislature offered Morazán
the
presidency. With clerical support, a conservative uprising
began in
Guatemala in 1837, and within a year the federation had
begun to
dissolve. On May 30, 1838, the Central American Congress
removed
Morazán from office, declared that the individual states
could
establish their own governments, and on July 7 recognized
these as
"sovereign, free, and independent political bodies."
Data as of December 1993
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