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Regionalism as a Factor in Colombia's 1875 Election
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
Colombia's 1875 election was one of the most intensely fought and pivotal political contests in the nation's history. It has attracted well-deserved attention because it delineated factionalism within the Liberal party to the point of no return, and it marked the sudden emergence of Rafael Núñez to national prominence as leader of one of the two contending Liberal factions. The Nuñista Liberals in that election posed the most serious challenge the Radical Liberals had sustained since they established their political ascendancy in 1867. Victory by the Radicals in 1875 ushered in the final, brief phase of their political hegemony. The bitter factionalism within the Liberal party revealed by the election directly contributed to the costly civil war of 1876-1877 by leading Conservatives to the mistaken assumption that the defeated Nuñistas would tacitly support an insurrection against the Radicals. The Nuñistas, however, supported the Radicals during the crisis of that partisan war and thereby gained access to power.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1986
References
1 Most accounts of the 1875 election are polemical and tend to stress its violent aspects. Among the most detailed accounts are Monsalve, Joaquín Estrada, Núñez: el político y el hombre (Bogotá, 1946), pp. 136–50Google Scholar; Aguirre, Indalecio Liévano, Rafael Núñez (Bogotá, 1944), pp. 117–39Google Scholar; Vergara, José Ramón, Escrutinio histórico: Rafael Núñez (Bogotá, 1939), pp. 143–74Google Scholar; Vargas, Antonio José Rivadeneira, Don Santiago Pérez (Bogotá, 1966), pp. 84–123 Google Scholar; Aguirre, Antonio Pérez, 25 años de historia colombiana, 1853 a 1878: del centralismo a la federación (Bogotá, 1959), pp. 343–79.Google Scholar The best recent discussion of the election is Delpar, Helen, “Aspects of Liberal Factionalism in Colombia, 1875–1885,” Hispanic American Historical Review 51 (1971): 255–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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7 The best biographies of Núñez are Aguirre, Liévano, Rafael Núñez; Vergara, Escrutinio histórico; Gustavo Otero Muñoz, Un hombre y una época; la vida azarosa de Rafael Núñez, (Bogotá, 1951)Google Scholar; del Castillo, Nicolás, El primer Núñez (Bogotá, 1971)Google Scholar; the last work concludes in 1863.
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19 La América (Bogotá), Jan. 20, 1875; El País (Bogotá). March 6 and May 11, 1875.
20 El Escudo Nacional (Cartagena), Feb. 5, 1875; for expressions of similar sentiments see ibid., Jan. 25, 1875; La Unión Colombiana (Bogotá), Feb. 1. 1875; El Promotor (Barranquilla), Feb. 6, 1875.
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27 Gaceta de Santander (Socorro), April 1 and May 20, 1875.
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32 According to article 75 of the 1863 constitution, a presidential candidate had to obtain the votes of a majority of the states, each state having one vote, to be elected president. In case no candidate received a majority vote. Congress would elect one of the leading candidates as president. Pombo, y Guerra, , Constituciones, 4: 154.Google Scholar
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35 Froilan Largacha to Mosquera, Feb. 10, 1875, ATCM; the pro-Núñez papers were El Correo de Colombia, La Unión Colombiana, and El Cronista. Two Bogotá papers supported Parra, Diario de Cundinamarca and El País.
36 Núñez to Mosquera, Jan. 3, 1875, ATCM; (Bogotá) Feb. 23, 1875.
37 La Unión Colmbiana (Bogotá), April 10, 1875; see also ibid., Feb. 24, 1875.
38 (Bogotá) Sept. 25, 1875; see also ibid., Jan. 15, 1875, and El País (Bogotá), April 6, 1875.
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47 César Conto to Mosquera, May 5, 1875, ATCM.
48 Andrés Cerón to Mosquera, April 21, 1875, ATCM; Juan de Dios Restrepo to Mosquera, June 8, 1875, ATCM; Gabriel Montaño to Mosquera, July 20, 1875, ATCM; La Unión Colombiana (Bogotá), March 20 and May 18, 1875; Diario de Cundinamarca (Bogotá), July 14 and Aug. 12, 1875.
49 M. S. Barreiro to Mosquera, July 17, 1875, ATCM.
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52 Ibid., March 9, 1875; Diario Oficial (Bogotá), Feb. 14, 1875; La Unión Colombiana (Bogotá), Feb. 13 and 20, March 9, 1875.
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54 Ureta, José P., Cartagena y sus cercanías (Cartagena, 1912), pp. 432–34Google Scholar; Parra, , Memorias, pp. 606–10.Google Scholar Santo Domingo was born in Cuba but came to Colombia in his youth. In 1872 he unsuccessfully fought for state control of the nationally-owned maritime salt works in Bolívar and Magdalena.
55 El Escudo Nacional (Cartagena), March 9, 1875.
56 Ibid.; La Unión Colombiana (Bogotá), March 3, 1875.
57 Ríaseos had seized a state arms shipment shortly after his return to Magdalena from the Barranquilla convention, and he then threatened insurrection unless the governor stepped down. See El País (Bogotá), March 16 and May 21, 1875; El Magdalena (Santa Marta), Jan. 19, 1875; El Ferrocarril del Magdalena (Santa Marta), Jan. 24, 1875; El Escudo Nacional (Cartagena), Feb. 25, 1875; El Elector Nacional (Barranquilla), March 15, 1875; Granados, José Ignacio Díaz, Rectificación histórica (Barran-quilla, 1899), pp. 5–11.Google Scholar
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62 (Bogotá) June 19, 1875.
63 Aug. 24, 1875.
64 (Bogotá), Aug. 14 and 21, 1875. The phrase merienda de negros means an uproar, disturbance of a chaotic situation.
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