Cardona
MPSA 2004
13
1854-55: Factions of Liberals compete for power; after a coup and counter-coup, the
Conservatives take advantage of the split among the Liberals and come to
power (Bushnell 1993: 114)
1858:
Conservatives acquiesce to Liberal reforms (Safford and Palacios 2002: 216-
217, Bushnell 1983: 114-115) and write a federalist constitution
1859-62: Liberals mount successful revolt against the Conservative government,
assume power
1861:
Liberals, on their way to military victory, impose an interim, extremely
federalist constitution, creating nine essentially sovereign states within the
national territory
1863:
Liberals, victory complete, impose final version of highly federalist
constitution, with more functions ascribed to central government, but still with
nine largely independent states within the national territory
This sequence illustrates that wars, elections, and constitution writing were
complementary tools in pursuing control of the national government, and that struggles
between and within the emergent political parties powerfully structured these contests.
The next two decades after the 1863 constitution would be characterized by
extreme levels of strife within the nine states of the confederation: by Alape’s count,
there were 54 “mini-civil wars” between 1863 and 1884, the majority of which pitted
Liberals against Liberals (Alape 1985: 21). During this period, control of the national
government gradually shifted from moderate Liberals, known as Draconianos, to a more
Radical faction, which led a successful coup against moderate Tomás Cipriano de
Mosquera in 1867, removing him from office. The Radical Liberals won the next six
Convention