Actos Lejislativos de la Convencion Nacional Instalada en Rionegro, el 4 de Febrero de 1863

Bogota: Imprenta de la Nacion, 1863. Very good.. [2],86,vii pp. Later plain wrappers; removed from a sammelband. Ownership mark eradicated from title page. Light tanning. The mid-19th century in Colombian politics was characterized by swings in power between Liberal and Conservative factions, until the Liberals ascended to power in the early 1860s and ruled relatively unchallenged for the next two decades. The present work contains a very early printing of their new Constitution of 1863, as ratified by the Ríonegro Convention, as well as most of the other legislation adopted there. The constitution incorporated many anti-clerical measures, including official separation of church and state; full freedom of worship, including non-Catholics; suppression of the religious orders; prohibition of corporate (i.e. church) ownership of real property; and governmental supervision of worship. The document also thoroughly decentralized power and made each state a virtual law unto itself. In an attempt to curb the authority of its leading politician-general, Tomás de Mosquera, the liberals made the presidency a two-year office with no immediate re-election.