Simon Bolvar's 1819 address to the Congress of Angostura took place in Venezuela during the long course of the struggle for independence. Venezuelas First and Second Republic collapsed, in part because they failed to meet the support of pardos and slaves (Blanchard 2008). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/ncr.2003.0004. Repeated elections are essential in popular systems, for nothing is so dangerous as to allow power to remain a long time vested in one citizen; the people become accustomed to obey, and he to command, and this gives rise to usurpation and tyranny (Bolivar 1819). It was only the chaos of post-colonial South American politics, which drove him towards an increasingly authoritarian approach. From there, with the auspices of President Alexandre Petion (17701818) that included 6.000 soldiers, money and even a print- (Helg 2003), Bolivar returned to Venezuela with a military expedition. Its culminating piece of legislation was the Venezuelan Constitution of 1819, officially adopted on August 15, but quickly made obsolete by the creation of the Republic of Colombia on December 17, 1819. Download date: August 25th, 2018. An address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819) Reprint ordered by the government of the United States of Venezuela, to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the Congress by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830 1999. Lpez, J and Lopez, J. Bolvar personally witnessed the rise of. He was proud, and his words show it. By 1812, liberals in Spain understood that, if the Empire were to survive, some further reforms were required. Silencios y disputas en la historia de Hispanoamerica. Angostura bark, a spice made from the bark of the tree Angostura trifoliata. 1Despite the prominent hero-worship of Bolivar, there have been scholarly works critical of his deeds. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. This text is part of the Internet Modern History Sourcebook. 80: Communist Interference in El Salvador, and Response to Stories Published in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, U.S. Department of State and Alexander Haig (1981), Document #12: Testimonies of Guatemalan Women, Luz Alicia Herrera (1980), Chapter 5. Simn Bolvar, "An Address of Bolvar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819)" Background As a young man, Simn Bolvar (1783-1830), who would become known as "El Libertador" ("The Liberator") in Latin America, spent a few years in Europe. 1999. The Congress of Angostura is considered Venezuela's second legislative congress, the first being the one that met in 1811. Levene, R. 1951. Indeed, despite his strong criticisms of Spanish imperialism he seemed to acknowledge that Spanish rule offered an important degree of stability and unity while independence could bring instead disunity and possible chaos amongst the emerging nations: The separation of America from the Spanish Monarchy resembles the state of the Roman Empire, when that enormous structure fell to pieces in the midst of the ancient world (Bolivar 1819). By the end of his life, Bolivar was a deeply disappointed and bitter man who wrote to a friend: All who served the Revolution have plowed the sea (Bolivar 1830). A big point of contention between Enlightenment thinkers and their Counter-Enlightenment foes, was about universalism. The Andes: Soldiers, Oligarchs, and Indians, Memories of Violence, Peace, and Justice in Peru, Across Patagonia, Lady Florence Dixie (1881), Document #18: Pulacyo Theses, The Union Federation of Bolivian Mineworkers (1946), Document #19: Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, Plurinational Legislative Assembly of Bolivia (2010), Chapter 7. He prepared weeks in advance the speech delivered on February 15th, 2019, to delegates of the Congress. Bolivar was decidedly on the abolitionist side, and this speaks very well of his moral character. If a people, perverted by their training, succeed in achieving their liberty, they will soon lose it, for it would be of no avail to endeavor to explain to them that happiness consists in the practice of virtue; that the rule of law is more powerful than the rule of tyrants, because, as the laws are more inflexible, every one should submit to their beneficent austerity; that proper morals, and not force, are the bases of law; and that to practice justice is to practice liberty. But, in the Angostura Address, he clearly mistrusts democracy, as it seems to cripple the strength of a nation: But what democratic government was ever able to unite power, prosperity and permanency at the same time? The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. The Congress of Angostura A Great Address and Campaigning in the Plains (1819) Congress did not meet until February 15, 1819, on account of the late arrival of some representatives. This bring us to one of our key questions: Had Bolivar already planned to be a perpetual dictator by 1819 and was the Angostura Address paying mere lip service to the principle of alterability in power? Most of the figures of the Spanish Enlightenment became afrancesados, thinkers who believe Spain should embrace French customs. Bolivar was not really greatly concerned with these events in Spain. An Address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819) Reprint Ordered by the Government of the United States of Venezuela, to Commemorate the Centennial of the Opening of the Congress (tr. Delhi: Penguin Books. The will of the Grand Sultan, the Khan, the Bey, and other despotic sovereigns, is the supreme law, and it is arbitrarily executed by the pashas and inferior governors in Turkey and Persia, where the system of oppression is completely organized, and is submitted to by the people because of the authority from which it emanates. Yet, despite his obvious ambitions, in 1819 Bolivar still wanted to appear as to be reluctant to become a perpetual dictator. In it, from this moment, national sovereignty is centred. Democracy in America. Precisely because no form of government is so weak as the democratic, its framework must be firmer, and its institutions must be studied to determine their degree of stability.unless this is done, we will have to reckon with an ungovernable, tumultuous, and anarchic society, not with a social order where happiness, peace, and justice prevail. Bolivar, typical of his rhetorical style, concluded the Angostura Address with these words: Gentlemen! Latin America in the World Arena, 1990s - Present. 2010. This would become a perennial feature amongst many Latin American caudillos ever since and something that would dominate most of the regions politics and society for the next century (Castro 2007). Thanks to these achievements he would then be invited by the Peruvian authorities to organize the military campaign against the remaining Spanish and loyalist forces in Peru and Upper Peru (modern-day Bolivia), thus completing the final defeat of the Spanish Empire in South America. Las Indias no eran colonias. . One common colonialist trope in the 19th Century was the concept of Oriental despotism (Wittfogel, 1953), popularized by Hegel and Hegelians especially Karl Marx himself. By this I mean that the result will be the death of the government, whose heirs are anarchy, usurpation, and tyranny . Maistre, J. This thesis was put forth by Argentine historian Ricardo Levene (1951), in an influential treatise, Las Indias no eran colonias. State Fullerton. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, Gand J Lugo-Ocando. . In the speech, Bolvar lays the foundations for the establishment of democratically governed Gran Colombia that is free from the burden of slavery and racial inequality. The Lycurgus legislature produced glory, virtue, morality and therefore national happiness (Bolivar 1819). . 3(1): 2553. He stated that government should work in favor of the people because they are all "American by birth and European by law", and that they should have the same rights as the other Europeans. Bolivar never really says. An address of Bolivar at the Congress of Angostura (February 15, 1819) Reprint ordered by the government of the United States of Venezuela, to commemorate the centennial of the opening of the Congress (tr. Surely, the best homage we may render to Bolivar on occasion of the 200th anniversary of his Angostura Address, is to critically engage with his work, objectively describe his views, and present him as he truly was: a great man, but not a demigod. But, the Bourbons, and especially Charles III, embraced a program of enlightened despotism and absolutism that by 1810, had fully converted the Indies into colonies. Needless to say, Bolivar hoped to become precisely a perpetual figurehead in the politics of the region and went to describe the role as follows: The President of the Republic comes to be in our Constitution, as the Sun that, firm in the center, gives life to the Universe. ), but few embodied both military and intellectual talents. The whole purpose of the Angostura Congress was precisely for Bolivar to renounce power as dictator and give it back to the constituency. However, as we will argue in this paper, it is precisely due to the nationalist distortions that are likely to occur around the nature and context of the Angostura delivery that calls for a more critical reading of the document. Bogota: Random House. Again, Bolivar does not make it sufficiently clear. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. ), The Works of Joseph de Maistre. In the Angostura Address, he returns to this theme: The more I admire the excellency of the Federal Constitution of Venezuela, the more am I convinced of the impossibility of applying it to our situation (Bolivar 1819). Roberts, P. 2012. 1965. Cuba: Key Colony, Socialist State, From Haciendas to the Peal of the Antilles, The Island of Cuba, Alexander von Humboldt (1856), Through Afro-America, William Archer (1910), Document #13: Montecristi Manifesto, by Jos Mart and Mximo Gmez (1895), Document #14: My Race, Jose Mart (1893), Document #15: History Will Absolve Me, by Fidel Castro (1953), Document #17: What is Cubas Sin?, Fidel Castro (2003), Document #16: Statement from Mexico City, Juana Castro (1964), Chapter 6. If the Senate were hereditary rather than elective, it would, in my opinion, be the basis, the tie, the very soul of our republic. 2018. Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. Yet, in 1999, Venezuelas constituents did uphold Bolivars original proposal, in a new Constitution. In Simon Bolivar's Message to the Congress of Angostura, he states that Latin American people deserve their independence. 1826. ended four years prior. Bolivar insists that, in monarchies, the executive power becomes too powerful, as it enjoys too many advantages. In 1829, in the mist of continuous crises of legitimacy, some of Bolivars loyalists in Bogota proposed to establish a monarchy, with Bolivar as king, although his title would be Liberator; he would then have a European prince as successor (Lynch 2010: 263). My sword, and the swords of my illustrious comrades-in-arms, will protect its solemn authority. Did not the Roman Empire conquer the world? Unfortunately, again, Bolivars reasoning is very confusing; as every critic of the House of Lords or any other hereditary office reminds us, such an institution is precisely the foundation for a nobility. Leiva, L. 1985. Download date: August 25th, 2018. He ardently defended freedoms, yet he believed that South American nations were not fully prepared for liberal systems. Levenes thesis is only half true. These subordinate officers are entrusted with the civil, military, and political administration, the collection of duties and the protection of religion. Slavery is the daughter of darkness: an ignorant people is a blind instrument of its own destruction. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. That is the goal of this article. Scanned by J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. But, it was not a mere cynical ploy to enlarge his armies. Sparta, of course, is the emblem of militarism in Western imagination. Carta de Bolivar al General Juan Jose Flores. On the contrary, aristocracy and monarchy have long established great and powerful empires. Said, E. 2006. Simon Bolivar was one of the liberators in the time of the revolution in the northern part of South America. of History, Cal. London: Longman Publishing Group. They went from being controlled by oversea nations to being independent nations. As our role has always been strictly passive and political existence nil, we find that our quest for liberty is now even more difficult of accomplishment; for we, having been placed in a state lower than slavery, had been robbed not only of our freedom but also of the right to exercise an active domestic tyranny . Criollos would know be second-class citizens. Although some historians still debate this (Damas 1983; Draper 1968) it does not seem to be the case. Simn Bolvar, el culto heroico y la nacin. Hispanic American Historical Review, 107145. This question becomes even more important as it was central to the separatist movement against the Great Colombia that finally overthrew him and led to his exile and ultimate death in solitude. However, a very strong point of contention in the Cadiz Cortes, was the demographic balance in the representation of deputies. Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. Oxford University Press. Bushnell, D. 2003. Bolivar must have been aware that his liberal and enlightened audience would object to his proposal, inasmuch as it reminded them too much of the old Spanish imperial regime and its inegalitarian institutions. Death and Money in the Afternoon: A History of the Spanish Bullfight. But, this second Venezuelan Republic would also prove to be short-lived. Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. Draper, H. 1968. The Jamaica Letter is mostly about Bolivars attempt to justify his struggle for American independence. During Simon Bolivar's address at the Congress of Angostura, in 1819, he argued for the freedom of the people of Latin America. Stoan, SK. This is his explanation in the Angostura Address: Nevertheless, the North American people are a singular example of political virtue and moral rectitude. CiteSeerX Address to the Congress at Angostura CiteSeerX - Document Details (Isaac Councill, Lee Giles, Pradeep Teregowda): The idea never entered into my head to consider as identical the characteristics of two peoples as different as the Anglo-American and the Spanish-American. Discussion Questions; Further Readings; Honduras: A Country and a Coup State Fullerton. Bolvar had the objective of emerging a plan of governance as he lays out his understanding of the independence movement and his belief on how the future of Latin American nations should be legally structured. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226016191.001.0001. Americans and the French, Bolvar led the. I will add that that people is unique in the history of the human race, and repeat that it is a miracle that a system as weak and complicated as the federal should have existed under so difficult and delicate circumstances as those which have occurred (Bolivar 1819). Yet, as previously mentioned, his 1826 Bolivian Constitution stipulated a ruler who was basically a king without a crown. Throughout the document, he is concerned about whether or not the emerging nations are truly ready for liberal forms of government. However, he implores his audience of 26 representatives to take into account social realities of the former Viceroyalty when writing a new constitution. He had some clear political motivations in doing this, (i.e., as an argument to reject federalism and favor stronger governments leaning towards authoritarianism). Almost immediately, Bolivar had to confront a revolt lead by Juan Domingo de Monteverde y Rivas (17731832) and Jos Toms Boves (17821814), who lured black slaves, mulatos and indigenous people to swore allegiance to the legitimate Spanish King who by then had been re-stated to the Crown. How, exactly, does the potential for abuse in a monarchy justify the expansion of executive power in a republic? Caracas: Monte Avila Editores. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 47(1), 7482. His praise for division of powers was also only half-hearted. In the midst of the battles for independence, Bolvar summoned a congress in the city of Angostura to reassert New Granadas autonomy and to install a political system that he believed would be capable of sustaining a new republic. In the context of early 19th Century Venezuela, this was a major accomplishment. Despite not controlling Venezuela, Bolivar called for a Second Congress of Venezuela (the first one had been called in 1811 in Caracas, to declare independence), to assemble in Angostura. Nevertheless, his main concern was not so much with absolutism itself, but rather, with the exclusion of criollos in the administration of the Spanish Empire. This time he understood that he could not make a frontal assault on Caracas, so he decided to begin a campaign of guerrilla warfare in the Eastern and Southern region of Guayana, in Venezuela, via the Orinoco River. In that Constitution, it was made clear that Spain would have equal citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. The creation of a hereditary senate would in no way be a violation of political equality. A political upheaval that took place between 1765 ad 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. But there is more. Former colonial powers may be admired in many regards, but that does not imply that there is exclusively one single path to progress that must be followed by all nations on Earth. The Congress of Angostura was convened by Simn Bolvar and took place in Angostura during the wars of Independence of Colombia and Venezuela, culminating in the proclamation of the Republic of Colombia . That Constitution, labeled the Constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, written under the auspices of Hugo Chavez and the self-proclaimed Bolivarian Revolution, went to great lengths in attempting to imitate Bolivarian thinking in every aspect of political organization. Yet, at the same time, Bolivar seems to reproduce some old colonialist tropes, according to which Anglo-Saxon peoples are more virtuous. Download date: August 25th, 2018. While in Rome and inspired by his early contacts with liberal movements in the old continent (Bushnell 2003) he made an oath to free the American countries from Spanish imperialism (Castro-Klaren 2003). Madrid: Planeta. Breaking up with TINA? DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade, Gabriel, and Jairo Lugo-Ocando. The address is presented in Spanish with a short editorial introduction in English. Bolivar was deeply influenced by the Enlightenment thinkers. In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) How does an aristocratic principle, such as hereditary privilege, motivate sharing the peoples interests, opinions and spirit? Mindlessly appropriating the constitutions of other nations, he argued, would lead to Gran Colombias demise. His "Angostura Address of 1819" is much more than just a regular speech that any politician would make throughout the course of their career. How is everything conspiring against the executive power in a republic? Document #2: "Address at the Congress of Angostura," Simn Bolvar (1819) Travels in Colonial Latin America; Discussion Questions; Further Reading; Chapter 3. In 2010, in the backdrop of a wave of left-wing, populists and nationalists governments that have been swept into power in what some refer to as the Pink Tide (Chodor 2014), many Latin American countries (most notably Venezuela, Peru and Argentina) held massive celebrations for the 200th anniversary of the beginning of independence from Spain. The Lower Classes . See, for example, Madariaga (1951) and Carrera Damas (2003). DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2515360. They also seemed to understand that a moral power could very easily be turned into a censoring body that hastily suppresses individual freedoms. Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that gave us birth against the opposition of the invaders. As complement to the strong executive power, in the Angostura Address Bolivar proposed a legislative power divided in two chambers: Representatives and the Senate. The executive power, consisting of two consuls, had the same flaw as Sparta. Simn Bolvar: Liberation and Disappointment. The Angostura Address: Cultural identity, ethnic relations Although never formally educated in universities, Bolivar was a self-taught man and had at least two illustrious tutors who were the arguably the leading intellectuals of the region at the time; Simon Rodriguez and Andres Bello. Congress of Angostura, an 1819-1821 legislative body of Gran Colombia. I do not solicit the establishment of a nobility, for as a celebrated republican has said, that would simultaneously destroy equality and liberty. But, it still reflects Bolivars anti-colonial convictions, inasmuch as unlike most figures of the Spanish Enlightenment, he was not embarrassed of having African roots. Scanned by J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. He was moved towards abolitionism by Haitian President Alexandre Petion, who offered him military support in exchange of the attempt to abolish slavery from liberated territories. Devoted to the government because of a natural interest in its own preservation, a hereditary senate would always oppose any attempt on the part of the people to infringe upon the jurisdiction and authority of their magistrates . Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, vol. But, admittedly, it had turned out to be very corrupt. Being just 21 years old in 1805 and after losing his wife just years earlier, he went to tour Europe. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, 1. There, he Under Jose de Galvezs (17201787) recommendation (after an administrative visit to the Indies), posts high in the military and civil hierarchy (including ecclesiastical appointments) ruling American affairs, would no longer be occupied by people born in Spanish America, but rather, by administrators born in Spain, i.e., the peninsulares. If he attempts to infringe upon the law, his own ministers will desert him, thereby isolating him from the Republic, and they will even bring charges against him in the Senate. It is certainly the case that, during Habsburg times (the dynasty before the arrival of the Bourbons), the Indies were not colonies in the modern sense. University of Chicago Press. Orientalism. In the Angostura Address, Bolivar engages in some confusing argumentation trying to justify the concentration of power in the executive branch of government: In a republic, the executive ought to be the strongest, because everything conspires against it; and on the other hand in a monarchy the legislative ought to be the most powerful, as everything unites in favor of the sovereign (Bolivar 1819). Furthermore, in order to avoid competition with the mother country, the Bourbon reforms prohibited the production of certain goods in the Indies. There can be multiple answers to this question: These sources both signify a change in attitude with the people of each nation. from the original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes) by Bolvar, Simn, 1783-1830; Ynes, Francisco Javier, 1861-1924; Venezuela . Although there were many reasons for Bolivars disputes with Francisco de Paula Santander (17921840) and other conspirators in Bogota, it was by far the ambition of becoming President for Life that turned out to be the most crucial amongst his opponents. 1, 2018, pp. . Please look indulgently on this declaration of my political vision, on my heartfelt desires and my earnest pleas, which I have dared to address to you in the name of the people (Bolivar 1819). Download date: August 25th, 2018. 2018;47(1):74-82. Bolivar, a man of the Enlightenment himself, continued this trope, by presenting the Turks, Persians and Chinese, as despotic peoples. On February 15, 1819, The Liberator entered the Government Palace of Angostura along with Rafael Urdaneta, Toms Montilla and He also publicly proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in Carupano, in 1816. That same year, Bolivar would head towards the Venezuelan plains, assemble an army of llaneros who now supported the Republican Cause- and European mercenaries. However, later on, in the Constitution that he wrote for Upper Peru (named Bolivia in his honor) in 1826 and that he attempted to impose on Colombia afterwards, he stipulated the figure of President for Life. God save Congress! (Bolivar 1819). Napoleon, whose reign as Emperor was. The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. What I propose is an office for which the candidates must prepare themselves, an office that demands great knowledge and the ability to acquire such knowledge. The executive is commander in chief of the army and navy; he makes peace and declares war; but Parliament annually determines what sums are to be paid to these military forces. Argentina: Progress, Stalemate, Discord, Understanding Argentinas Dirty War Through Memoir, The Challenge of Burying the Ley de Caducidad in Uruguay, The Spanish-American Republics, Theodore Child (1891), Document #24: What is Peronism? by Juan Domingo Pern (1948) || The Twenty Truths of the Pernist Justicialism, Juan Domingo Pern (1950), Document #25: Statement by the military upon taking power (1976), Document #26: Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Adolfo Prez Esquivel (1980), Document #27: Speech at a Dinner with the Council of Americas in New York, Nstor Kirchner (2006), Chapter 10.