United Provinces of New Granada

The United Provinces of New Granada was a country in South America from 1811 to 1816, a period known in Colombian history as the Patria Boba. It was formed from areas of the New Kingdom of Granada. The government was a federation with a parliamentary system, consisting of a weak executive and strong congress. The country was reconquered by Spain in 1816.

Government

The Triumvirate

After two attempts at establishing a congress, the State of Cundinamarca managed to convene a Congress of the United Provinces, which met in late 1811. It issued an Act of Federation on November 27, 1811, which allowed Congress to establish a separate executive branch, if it felt it was required. An executive, consisting of a triumvirate, was created in 1814 after a royalist army from Pasto and Popayán defeated one from Cundinamarca (which had not accepted the Union and, in fact, had even sent troops against it). Congress nominated Manuel Rodríguez Torices, President of the State of Cartagena; José Manuel Restrepo, Antioquia's Secretary of State; and Custodio García Rovira, Governor of the Province of Socorro. At the time of the nomination, the nominated officials were exercising their jobs, so they were temporarily replaced by members of Congress: Joaquín Camacho, Representative for the Tunja Province, José María del Castillo y Rada and José Fernández Madrid, both Representatives for the Cartagena ProvinceDemocracy in Colombia: Clientelist Politics and Guerrilla Warfare...
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