Latin America: Its Rise and ProgressGarcía Calderón, Francisco
History
Latin America: Its Rise and Progress
García Calderón, Francisco
Latin America
At Angostura the Liberator placed before the Colombians a draft of a
constitution. The bases of this constitution were republican
government, the sovereignty of the people, the division of powers,
civil liberty, and the abolition of slavery and of privilege. In
this remarkable essay we find the theories of Montesquieu, Rousseau,
and Bentham, the realism of England and the democratic enthusiasm of
France. The legislative power is to be composed of two chambers: the
first popularly elected, and the Senate hereditary, according to the
English tradition, formed by the Liberators who would found the
nobility of America. The president is a kind of constitutional king;
his ministers, who are to be responsible, will govern. The judiciary
will acquire stability and independence. A new authority, the Moral
Power, completes the political structure. This Moral Power of the
Liberator's Republic is an imitation of the Athenian Areopagus and
the Roman censors: it is to be responsible for education and ensure
respect for morality and the law; "it chastises vice by opprobrium
and infamy, and rewards the public virtues by honour and glory."
Bolivar had a tendency towards moral and intellectual despotism: this
tribunal was to compel good behaviour. Later the Liberator condemned
the teachings of Bentham in the Universities of Colombia, and
accepted Catholicism as an instrument of the Government. Article 2
of the Angostura draft states that "ingratitude, disrespect, and
disloyalty toward parents, husbands, the aged, the magistrates, and
citizens recognised and proclaimed as virtuous; the breaking of the
given word, in no matter what connection; insensibility before public
misfortunes or those affecting friends or immediate relations, are
recommended especially to the vigilance of this moral power." This
was paternal tyranny, exercised over the feelings, the conduct, and
the passions.
{80}
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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