Delegates of the Consejo Nacional (National Council)
Signatories
Two delegates per state (18 total), one delegate member of the Conservative party and one delegate from the Liberal Party with moderate tendencies. Liberal radicals were excluded.
The Constituent Assembly consisted of 18 delegates, two from each of the nine states.
Rafael Núñez announced a national regeneration program and changed the country from a decentralized federal system to a centralized system with a strong central presidency. The presidential term was changed from two to six years. The president of the Republic was elected by the Congress. The president of each state was retitled governor. Governors were to be appointed by the president of the Republic. The governor would choose the mayors of his department, except the mayor of Bogotá, who was chosen by the president himself. Thus, the president in effect had control of the executive at all levels.
In addition, reelection of the president was authorized.
The chamber, the departmental assemblies, and the municipal councils were chosen by popular vote. The Senate was chosen by the departmental assemblies. The suffrage for elections of national scope was limited: men must be at least 21 or older and literate. However, illiterate men could vote in regional elections.
The position of vice-president was reinstated and was initially occupied by Eliseo Payán.
The Catholic religion became the official religion. In 1887, President Núñez made a concordat with the Vatican, reinstating powers to the Catholic Church that they had lost in the previous constitution.
This method of implementing constitutional changes based on the partisan wind of the moment, without having to be the result of agreement by the different political parties or the will of the people, was one of the causes of bipartisan polarization and violence in Colombia for many years. The population began to identify themselves more with the party concept than with the nation concept. The radical liberal segment was never reconciled to the loss of power and on three occasions, between 1885 and 1895, they tried to gain it by force. It took 44 years (up to 1930) for the Liberal party to regain power. The Constitution of 1886 remained effective for more than 100 years, guiding the mandate of 23 presidents of the Republic of Colombia, until 1991.
In the Hay–Herrán Treaty, signed January 22, 1903, Colombia would have indefinitely rented a strip of land to the United States for the construction of a canal in the Department of Panama. Under this agreement, the United States would pay Colombia US$10 million and after nine years an annuity of $250,000 per year. The proposal was rejected by the Colombian Congress, who considered it disadvantageous to the country, not only because the payments would not last forever, but because conceding the isthmus indefinitely to a foreign country represented a loss of national sovereignty.
On November 3, 1903 Panama separated from Colombia with the direct support of the United States. On November 6, the United States recognized Panama's sovereignty and on November 11, the United States informed Colombia they would oppose Colombian troops if they attempted to recover Panama and backed the claim by sending warships to the isthmus. The Thousand Days' War, along with political disorganization in Bogotá, had left Colombia too weak to oppose the separation. On November 18, the United States signed the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty with Panama for the construction of the Panama Canal.
The Reform of 1905
Rafael Reyes in a 1904 portrait
In December 1904, a few months after being elected president, General Rafael Reyes shut down Congress because of its unwillingness to approve the reforms he desired. At the beginning of 1905, he summoned a National Constituent Assembly consisting of three representatives from each department, chosen by the departmental administrators.
The Assembly abolished the vice-presidency, two of the designaturas, and the State Council. It also specified that the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice would serve for life, recognized the right of representation for minorities, and the possibility of reforming the Constitution by means of a National Assembly.[1]
The National Assembly demonstrated its support for a government with a dictatorial character when it established a presidential period of 10 years for General Reyes (from January 1, 1905 to January 31, 1914), with the possibility of directly appointing his successor. If the new president were someone other that Reyes the term would be for four years.[1] However, General Reyes overthrown in 1909.
The Reform of 1910
Because of the unexpected overthrow of General Reyes on June 13, 1909, the Congress chose the former vice-president, conservative General Ramón González Valencia, to serve as Interim President of Colombia from August 3, 1909 to August 7, 1910.
In 1910, González summoned a National Assembly (elected through the municipal councils) to reform the Constitution of 1886, which started sessions on May 15. This important reform, inspired by the members of the Republican Union (a third political party with bipartisan principles of free elections and religious tolerance), banned the participation of the military in politics and established the direct popular election of the president, departmental assemblies and municipal council. It reduced the presidential period from 6 to 4 years, prohibited the immediate reelection of presidents, eliminated the figure of the vice-president and replaced it by one appointee that would be chosen by the Congress. It established a system of proportional representation for the appointment of members of public corporations according to votes obtained, assuring a minimum of one third for the opposition party. It granted the Congress the faculty to choose the magistrates of the Supreme Court of Justice, consecrating constitutional control of the Supreme Court of Justice. With these reforms the presidential powers were reduced.
Before this reform, the president was chosen by the electoral college that represented the electoral districts.
This reform kept in force the previous voter qualifications: literacy requirement and an annual rent of at least 300 pesos or possessing real estate with a value of at least 1,000 pesos.
The president retained the power to name governors who in turn would appoint mayors, corregidores, administrators, directors of post offices, heads of jails, managers of banks, and others.
It was not until August 27, 1932, during the government of Olaya Herrera, that the number of seats in Congress was regulated with Law no. 7. This new law set the number of seats for each party to be proportional to the number of votes obtained by each party, with a minimum of one-third of the seats for the opposition party. Guaranteeing one-third of the seats for the opposition had indirect undesired effects. During conservative governments, the liberal party boycotted the electoral process as a means of protest in several elections, knowing that in any case it would obtain one-third of the positions in Congress. On one occasion, not even the third party was accepted.
To begin the period of transition, on July 15, the Constituent National Assembly made an exception to the rule of popular election of presidents and elected the first president of the Republican Union, Carlos Eugenio Restrepo, and also chose the first and second designates.
The Reform of 1936
On August 1, 1936, during the government of Alfonso López Pumarejo, the Congress made several reforms. Illiterate men could now vote. This rule was implemented for the first time in the presidential election of 1938, which the liberal Eduardo Santos won.
Although they were not considered citizens for the purposes of suffrage, women were granted the right to occupy most public positions and began to attend university. Control of the Catholic Church over education started to wane.
The Reform of 1954
During the government of Gustavo Rojas Pinilla and by his suggestion, the National Constituent Assembly (Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, ANAC) unanimously recognized the political rights of women by means of the Legislative Act No. 3 of August 25, 1954. Women exerted this right for the first time during the plebiscite of December 1, 1957, to approve the constitutional change that would allow both traditional political parties, Liberal and Conservative, to govern together as the National Front.
Three attempts to recognize the right of women to vote had failed. The first attempt was in, in 1934, during the government of Alfonso López Pumarejo, a law was presented to the Congress failed to pass. Voting rights for women did not appear in the constitutional reform of that year. The second attempt was the proposal presented by liberal Alberto Lleras Camargo in 1944; it was postponed under the excuse that this regulation could not be approved before 1948. The third attempt was the proposal presented by the liberal Alfonso Romero Aguirre in 1948, which was slated to be implemented in a gradual fashion, but it was really another postponement.
The Reform of 1957
In October 1957, the temporary Military Junta that succeeded Rojas Pinilla authorized with the agreement of the traditional political parties constitutional reform by means of the Legislative Act No. 0247. This legislation fixed the parity of the parties with the stated purpose of finding a solution to the problems of the country. This agreement and the corresponding period was called National Front.
The plebiscite of December 1, 1957 approved, with almost 94% of votes cast, the constitutional reform giving parity to both traditional parties in control of public corporations for a term of 12 years. It was determined that the elections for President of the Republic, Congress, departmental assemblies, and municipal councils would take place in the first half of 1958.
The Reform of 1958
The first Congress elected by popular means within the National Front made a constitutional change to extend the term of the National Front from 12 to 16 years and decided that the first president would be Liberal, not Conservative as had been agreed before.
The Reform of 1968
Although the National Front ended in 1974, the constitutional reforms preparing for the transition began in 1968 during the government of Carlos Lleras Restrepo, the next to last President of the National Front.
With the purpose of regulating the electoral competition between parties, the reforms eliminated the distribution by halves for departmental assemblies and municipal councils. Also included were some measures to recognize minority parties. Some required reforms were postponed, in some cases indefinitely, such as the ordinal one of article 120 of the Constitution granting "the right and fair participation of the second party in voting." Article 120 had the unintended effect of limiting the participation of minority parties and therefore limiting citizen participation. It established that later reforms to the constitution could be made by the Congress, as long as the reform was approved by two-thirds majority of the members of the Senate and the in camera voting of two consecutive ordinary legislative sessions.
The Reform of 1984
On November 21, 1984, during the government of Belisario Betancur, the Congress established popular voting for mayors and governors, with the aim of reducing or eliminating central control of the parties over nominations and of improving regional democracy.
The history of Colombia includes the settlements and society by indigenous peoples, most notably, the Muisca Confederation, Quimbaya Civilization, and Tairona Chiefdoms; the Spanish arrived in 1492 and initiated a period of annexation and colonization, most noteworthy being Spanish conquest; ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, with its capital at Bogotá. Independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the "Gran Colombia" Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada. The new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation (1858), and then the United States of Colombia (1863), before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886; as well as constant political violence in the country. Panama seceded in 1903. Since the 1960s, the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, which escalated in the 1990s, but then decreased from 2005 onward. The legacy of Colombia's history has resulted in a rich cultural heritage; while varied geography, and the imposing landscape of the country has resulted in the development of very strong regional identities.
Rafael Wenceslao Núñez Moledo was a Colombian author, lawyer, journalist and politician, who was elected president of Colombia in 1880 and in 1884. Núñez was the leader of the so-called "Regeneration" process which produced the Colombian Constitution of 1886 which was to remain until 1991.
The Congress of the Dominican Republic is the bicameral legislature of the government of the Dominican Republic, consisting of two houses, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. Both senators and deputies are chosen through direct election. There are no term limits for either chamber.
Enrique Alfredo Olaya Herrera was a Colombian journalist and politician. He served as President of Colombia from 7 August 1930 until 7 August 1934 representing the Colombian Liberal Party.
The Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is the current and twenty-sixth constitution of Venezuela. It was drafted in mid-1999 by a constituent assembly that had been created by popular referendum. Adopted in December 1999, it replaced the 1961 Constitution, the longest-serving in Venezuelan history. It was primarily promoted by then President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and thereafter received strong backing from diverse sectors, including figures involved in promulgating the 1961 constitution such as Luis Miquilena and Carlos Andrés Pérez. Chávez and his followers (chavistas) refer to the 1999 document as the "Constitución Bolivariana" because they assert that it is ideologically descended from the thinking and political philosophy of Simón Bolívar and Bolivarianism. Since the creation of the Constituent National Assembly in August 2017, the Bolivarian government has declared the 1999 constitution suspended until a new constitution is created.
The Colombian Conservative Party is a conservative political party in Colombia. The party was formally established in 1849 by Mariano Ospina Rodríguez and José Eusebio Caro.
The Constituent Assembly of Colombia was formed on February 5, 1991, to draft the Colombian Constitution of 1991. It was dissolved in June 1991, after the new document was adopted nationwide.
The Political Constitution of Colombia of 1991, is the Constitution of the Republic of Colombia. It was promulgated in Constitutional Gazette number 114 on Thursday, July 4, 1991, and is also known as the Constitution of Human Rights. It replaced the Political Constitution of 1886 and was issued during the presidency of the liberal César Gaviria, with ideas from the also liberal Luis Carlos Galán.
United States of Colombia was the name adopted in 1863 by the Constitución de Rionegro for the Granadine Confederation, after years of civil war. Colombia became a federal state itself composed of nine "sovereign states.” It comprised the present-day nations of Colombia and Panama and parts of northwestern Brazil. After several more years of intermittent civil wars, it was replaced by the more centralist Republic of Colombia in 1886, predecessor to modern Colombia.
Laureano Eleuterio Gómez Castro was a Colombian politician and civil engineer who served as the 18th President of Colombia from 1950 to 1953. In November 1951 poor health led him to cede presidential power to Roberto Urdaneta Arbelaez. On 13 June 1953, when he tried to resume his presidency, he was overthrown in a military coup led by Gustavo Rojas Pinilla. During the three decades prior to being elected president, Gómez was a radical leader of the Conservative Party and is widely considered to be one of the most brilliant and potent orators of the Congress of Colombia. However, he remains a controversial figure because of his sympathy for authoritarian regimes and the dictatorial nature of his government.
Rafael Reyes Prieto was a Colombian politician and soldier who was the Chief of Staff of the Colombian National Army and President of Colombia (1904–1909).
Gran Colombia, or Greater Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, was a state that encompassed much of northern South America and part of southern Central America from 1819 to 1831. It included present-day Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela, along with parts of northern Peru, northwestern Brazil, and Guyana. The terms Gran Colombia and Greater Colombia are used historiographically to distinguish it from the current Republic of Colombia, which is also the official name of the former state.
Presidential elections were held for the first time in France on 10 and 11 December 1848, electing the first and only president of the Second Republic. The election was held on 10 December 1848 and led to the victory of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte with 74% of the popular vote. This was the only direct presidential election until the 1965 French presidential election. The six candidates in the election, in order of most votes received, are Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte of the Bonapartists, Louis Eugène Cavaignac of the moderate Republicans, Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin of the Montagnards, François-Vincent Raspail of the Socialists, Alphonse de Lamartine of the Liberals, and Nicolas Changarnier of the Monarchists.
National Front was a period in the history of Colombia in which the two main political parties, the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party, agreed to rotate power, intercalating for a period of four presidential terms. The National Front Presidents were Alberto Lleras Camargo (Liberal), Guillermo León Valencia (Conservative), Carlos Lleras Restrepo (Liberal), and Misael Pastrana Borrero (Conservative).
The constitutional history of Colombia is the process of formation and evolution of the different constitutions that Colombia has had since its formation.
The Constituent National Assembly or ANC was a constitutional convention held in Venezuela in 1999 to draft a new Constitution of Venezuela, but the assembly also gave itself the role of a supreme power above all the existing institutions in the republic. The Assembly was endorsed by a referendum in April 1999 which enabled Constituent Assembly elections in July 1999. Three seats were reserved for indigenous delegates in the 131-member constitutional assembly, and two additional indigenous delegates won unreserved seats in the assembly elections.
Presidential elections were held in Colombia on 27 May 1990. In an election tarnished by violence, the result was a victory for César Gaviria of the Liberal Party, who received 48.2% of the vote.
The Regeneration was a political movement that emerged in Colombia in the late second half of the 19th century, led by Rafael Núñez. Its goal was to reverse the social and legal implications of the Radical Olympus era of the 1863 Constitution of Rionegro which established the United States of Colombia, made the country a federal republic and enforced the separation of church and state. The motto of Regeneration was "one nation, one goal, one God".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
