Nothing in our fundamental laws would have to be altered were we to adopt a legislative power similar to that held by the British Parliament. Caracas: Monte Avila Editores. But, as it turned out, this was just to pay lip service as Bolivar assumed dictatorial powers again and again throughout his ensuing political career. Again, Bolivar was certainly a big critic of Spanish imperialism, but he did not seem to mind other empires. As complement to the strong executive power, in the Angostura Address Bolivar proposed a legislative power divided in two chambers: Representatives and the Senate. He would lead them cross the Andes chain of mountains in modern-day Colombia towards a surprise attack on the capital, Bogota. Wittfogel, K. 1953. Carrera Damas, G. 2003. His success, however, would again be short-lived, as in 1830 Gran Colombia ruptured into its three original constituent countries, and Bolivar would have to march into exile and died on his way in in the city of Santa Marta, before he could make it to Europe. Bolivars choice of despotic governments, once again, reveals that he was a man of his time. He had some clear political motivations in doing this, (i.e., as an argument to reject federalism and favor stronger governments leaning towards authoritarianism). Latin America in the World Arena, 1800s-1980s, Moments and Events in U.S.-Latin American Relations (1800s-1980s), A History of United States Policy Towards Haiti, Document #46: Human Rights in Latin America: An Interview with Paulo Srgio Pinherio, Luis Muoz Martin: Founding Father of Modern Puerto Rico, Document #37: Monroe Doctrine, James Monroe (1823), Document #38 Abraham Lincoln on the Mexican-American War (1846-48), Document #39: Roosevelt Corollary, Theodore Roosevelt (1904), Document #40: Brazil, the United States and Pan Americanism, Document #35: United Fruit Co., Pablo Neruda (1950), Document #41: Address at a White House Reception for Members of Congress and for the Diplomatic Corps of the Latin American Republics, John F. Kennedy (1961), Chapter 16. Bolivars stand on the abolition of monarchy, however, is more problematic. Andrade, G. and Lugo-Ocando, J., 2018. These leaders assumed the role of dictators while rhetorically expressing their reluctance to do so. However, he implores his audience of 26 representatives to take into account social realities of the former Viceroyalty when writing a new constitution. Simon Bolivar was one of the liberators in the time of the revolution in the northern part of South America. Across his address, Bolvar For, his intellectual and political legacy is a mixed bag. 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. If the Senate were hereditary rather than elective, it would, in my opinion, be the basis, the tie, the very soul of our republic. 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). Bushnell, D. 2003. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Indeed, Bolivars stance on the moral power coheres well with his authoritarian leanings. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427, Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. But, as for Man, I declare that I have never met him in my life. Comercio libre meant that various Spanish ports could trade with the Indies; however, the Indies could not trade with any other country. ), but few embodied both military and intellectual talents. Contemporary anti-colonialists place much emphasis on the acknowledgement of cultural diversity, and Bolivar certainly took it into account when deciding what the best political path for a nation is. Castro, P. 2007. Caracas: Alfa. Yet, there were still notable Spanish Enlightenment figures (Jovellanos, Mayans, Olavide, amongst others). Bolivar insists that, in monarchies, the executive power becomes too powerful, as it enjoys too many advantages. Simon Bolivar: A Life. From there he would go to occupy modern-day Ecuador and unite the current territories of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela into a single political entity; it was known as the Gran Colombia, with Bogota as its capital. But, it was not a mere cynical ploy to enlarge his armies. 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 . In the South American revolutions, there were men of action (Paez, Sucre, etc.) But, admittedly, it had turned out to be very corrupt. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2515360. Download date: August 25th, 2018. Of course, it would be fallacious to accuse Bolivar of being authoritarian, just because he had authoritarian sympathizers. Levenes thesis is only half true. Las Indias no eran colonias. Login has been disabled for this journal while it is transferred to a new platform. 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). He genuinely emancipated slaves, yet was extremely afraid of a takeover by pardos and all the savage hordes from Africa and America who roam like wild deer in the wilderness of Colombia (Bolivar 1821). Reprint ed., Washington, D.C.: Press of B. S. Adams, 1919. the Liberator Simn Bolvar's address to the Congress of Angostura, 200 years after the delivery of this monumental work. This new nation . The rationale was that people with any degree of African descent would not be eligible for full representation. To get his point across, Bolivar returns to the question of cultural identity in the Angostura Address, but adds an interesting remark about Spain: Let us bear in mind that our population is neither European nor North American, but are closer to a blend of Africa and America than they are to Europe, for even Spain herself is not strictly European due to its African blood, institutions and character (Bolivar 1819). After he assumed full dictatorial powers in 1828, Bolivar severely limited various basic liberties, appealing to reasons of public morality. All should not be left to chance and the outcome of elections. 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). Indeed, he was, but even more so from an intellectual point of view. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in Bol var and South American Originally published in 1923, as part of the Cambridge Plain Texts series, this volume contains the complete text of Sim n Bol var's address before the Venezuelan Congress at . Edinburgh University Press. 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). 2018;47(1):7482. This style seemed to serve a very specific purpose as by 1819, Bolivar was keen to present himself as a humble citizen that, only reluctantly, takes hold of power, not out of personal ambition, but because of some historical metaphysical necessity. You may begin your work. As early as 1805 (when he made his famous oath of American independence in Romes Monte Sacro), he was already determined to fight for American independence. 7482. Our weak and feeble fellow citizens will have to increase in strength of mind in a very great degree, before they can be permitted to digest freedoms wholesome food (Bolivar 1819). University of Chicago Press. Chodor, T. 2014. Mindlessly appropriating the constitutions of other nations, he argued, would lead to Gran Colombias demise. Who could resist the admiration and esteem inspired by an intelligent government, which unites at the same moment public and private rights, which forms by general consent the supreme law of individuals? The Angostura Address 200 Years Later: A Critical Reading. The United States had just solidified their. Charles III introduced a system of comercio libre, free trade, but the name is very deceptive. Bolivar's speaking style reflected the values of his epoch. The congress of the Republic of Venezuela is installed. In this regard, despite his flaws, he is to be considered one the great men of South American history. In most cases, these celebrations served the political purpose of legitimating the parties in power that organized the festivities and appropriating nationalists sentiments that could help boost popular support. The wording is unmistakably reminiscent of Benthams philosophy, and indeed, the English philosopher was a major influence on Bolivars political thinking. Yet, in 1999, Venezuelas constituents did uphold Bolivars original proposal, in a new Constitution. 1826. God save Congress! (Bolivar 1819). Caballero, M. 2006. He is directly subject to the legislative body, the senate, and the people: he is the one man who resists the combined pressure of the opinions, interests, and passions of the social state and who, as Carnot states, does little more than struggle constantly with the urge to dominate and the desire to escape domination. Throughout his lifetime, Bolivar was concerned with public morality, and perhaps his most quoted words by Colombian and Venezuelan schoolchildren, come from the Angostura Address: Morals and knowledge are what we most need now (Bolivar 1819). Did not monarchy exist in France for fourteen centuries? Mine is done. A republican magistrate is an individual set apart from society, charged with checking the impulse of the people toward license and the propensity of judges and administrators toward abuse of the laws. Inspired by the revolutions of both the. But, he believed that federalism was not suited for the political culture of Spanish America, Indeed, this is the main thesis of his Cartagena Manifesto, in which he places most of the blame for the collapse of Venezuelas First Republic, on federalism. But, even when it came to the American government, Bolivar had high praises for it in the Angostura Address: And in fact, the example of the United States, with its progressive prosperity, was too flattering not to have been followed. 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. Napoleon, whose reign as Emperor was. Unfortunately, the Bolivar-hero cult rampant in Venezuela and Colombia (and to a lesser extent in. In that Constitution, it was made clear that Spain would have equal citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. As it was the educational custom of his times, Bolivar was deeply embedded in the Classics, emulating the spirited rhetoric of Cicero and other great orators of Greece and Rome. from the Original Spanish by Francisco Javier Ynes). Prof. Arkenberg has modernized the text. 1. Shubert, A. He makes his first point very quickly in the first sentence, "We are not Europeans.Americans by birth and Europeans by law." Retreived from: https://rsf.org/en/ranking. The enforcement of public morality has repeatedly been associated with authoritarian regimes. Retrieved from: http://www.archivodellibertador.gob.ve/escritos/buscador/spip.php?article9987. 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 stabilityunless 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. and men of philosophical thought (Roscio, Viscardo, etc. To fully grasp the most brilliant thought of the time, some basic context is required. Andrade G, Lugo-Ocando J. In political storms this body would arrest the thunderbolts of the government and would repel any violent popular reaction. 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. 1 (2018): 7482. Starting in 1999, Bolivars image was politically used by Hugo Chavezs leftist revolution, and ever since, leftist governments and guerrillas (especially FARC in Colombia) throughout the region have claimed to be followers of Bolivarian thinking. For, of all Enlightenment thinkers, Rousseau is typically considered to be somewhat of an outsider, even a pioneer of the Counter-Enlightenment. Por que no soy bolivariano. At least theoretically, this would ensure that criollos would no longer be second class citizens. He prepared weeks in advance the speech delivered on February 15th, 2019, to delegates of the Congress. 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. 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. And, at times, he seems to believe that, the new nations are not sufficiently mature to be wholly free: Liberty, says Rousseau, is a succulent food, but difficult to digest. He also publicly proclaimed the emancipation of slaves in Carupano, in 1816. 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. 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. In a sense, Bolivars approach is anti-colonial (let us remember that many aspects of colonialism itself were modeled on the universalism of the Enlightenment), inasmuch as he advises colonized peoples not to necessarily copy Eurocentric models. Caracas: Alfa. 2010. The Cortes, assembled in Cadiz during Napoleons invasion of Spain, redacted a very liberal Constitution by the standards of the time. He ardently defended freedoms, yet he believed that South American nations were not fully prepared for liberal systems. 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. After Spains humiliating defeat in the Seven Years War, Charles III understood the necessity to cleanse the corrupt and inefficient administration of the Spanish Empire. Bolivar was a great man of action and an important thinker, but he was still flawed in many regards. He attempts to excuse himself thus: Only an imperative necessity, united to a strongly expressed desire on the part of the people, could have induced me to assume the dreadful and dangerous office of dictator, supreme chief of the republic (Bolivar 1819). A strongly rooted force can only correct this weakness. Oxford University Press. We all owe it our obedience and loyalty. of History, Cal. 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. However, given that the rest of Venezuela was still controlled by Spanish authorities, only a few provinces could send delegates. Although some historians still debate this (Damas 1983; Draper 1968) it does not seem to be the case. This address is for the Congress of Angostura in which the first issue he places on the table is that the mestizos are not European, nor Indians, but a mixture of both Spaniard and native blood. It enjoys all its proper functions, and it requires no essential revision, because the Constitution, in creating it, gave it the form and powers which the people deemed necessary in order that they might be legally and properly represented. 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. In: Lively, J (ed. Yet, at the same time, Bolivar seems to reproduce some old colonialist tropes, according to which Anglo-Saxon peoples are more virtuous. 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. At the opening session, held at the Orinoco River port of Angostura (today Ciudad Bolvar), on 15 February 1819, Bolvar delivered a major address in which he warned against imitation of Anglo-American institutions and called for a new constitution featuring a hereditary Senate and a "moral power" with special responsibility for education and DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226016191.001.0001. These subordinate officers are entrusted with the civil, military, and political administration, the collection of duties and the protection of religion. Bolivar was given some military assignments in defending the Venezuelan Republic against loyalists of the Spanish monarchy. Iberoamericana Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 47, no. Geographies of Philological Knowledge: Postcoloniality and the Trasatlantic National Epic. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16993/iberoamericana.427. He had a great ability to arouse emotions with grand claims in order to get the support of his audiences, but he was still lacking in detailed political reasoning. 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 Unless the executive has easy access to all the administrative resources, fixed by a just distribution of powers, he inevitably becomes a nonentity or abuses his authority. 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. Orientalism. State Fullerton. Once again, he was inspired by his upbringing of admiration for Classical Antiquity: I have dared to suggest a moral power, drawn from the remote ages of antiquity and those obsolete laws, which for some time maintained public virtue amongst the Greeks and Romans (Bolivar 1819). The conspiracy against Miranda July 31, 1812. Dilogos Revista Electrnica de Historia, 16(2): 219267. His "Angostura Address of 1819" is much more than just a regular speech that any politician would make throughout the course of their career. We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. Under the leadership of the Libertador Simn Bolvar, revolutionary forces repeatedly fought off Spanish attempts to regain control of the region until Bolvar decisively expelled Spanish forces at the battle of Ayacucho in 1824. Lynch, J. "An assembly of tried and illustrious men, the Congress of Angostura, responded to the important requirements of the revolution, and when it gave birth to . Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press. Levenes thesis proposes that the Indies were actually kingdoms with the same legal standing as kingdoms in the Iberian Peninsula; the implication is that Bolivars struggle for independence was unjustified. New York: McMillan. (2018). Document #41: "Address at a White House Reception for Members of Congress and for the Diplomatic Corps of the Latin American Republics," John F. Kennedy (1961) Discussion Questions; Further Reading; Chapter 16. Yet, Bolivar (very much as Unamuno would do almost a century later), embraced Spains African identity. Yet, as previously mentioned, his 1826 Bolivian Constitution stipulated a ruler who was basically a king without a crown. The first time he mentions freedom he says, "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 .