WAR OF THE SUPREME: CAUSES, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSEQUENCES - HISTORY - 2025

The War of the Supreme was an armed conflict that took place in Nueva Granada, now Colombia, between the years 1839 and 1842. According to historians, it was the first civil war since the independence of the territory, just a few years after the dissolution. of the Great Colombia.

The conflict confronted the central government, chaired by José Antonio Márquez, and various regional leaders. They called themselves "supreme", which gave the war its name. The most important were Obando, Francisco Carmona and Salvador Córdoba.

Campaigns of the War of the Supreme. Source: Shadowxfox, via Wikimedia Commons

The reason given for starting the conflict was the application of a law promulgated years before and that was even among those approved in the Congress of Cúcuta. This law ordered the closure of monasteries that had less than 8 members, something that caused the uprising of the most conservative sectors.

However, the war of the supreme became a confrontation between the different factions existing in the country since the wars of independence. Thus, he pitted supporters of the federation with the centralists. The victory was for the latter, who embodied their centralist idea in the Constitution promulgated in 1843.

Background

The Gran Colombia devised by Simón Bolívar had been dissolved in a few years. Nueva Granada, one of the states resulting from that division, had not managed to stabilize its political situation. Many of its problems had been creeping up on since the wars of independence.

From its own creation, there were tensions between the different ideological currents: conservatives and liberals, federal and centralists, religious or secular…

Despite that, the armed confrontations had been minor. However, all these tensions ended up leading to a bloody civil war, that of the Supreme, the first in independent Colombia.

Fight between federalists and centralists

Since the years of struggle for independence, there have been two main currents on how to organize the country. On the one hand, the supporters of a federal state and, on the other, those who preferred a centralized one. After the dissolution of Gran Colombia, the confrontation continued.

Despite the arrival to the presidency of Santander, both sides continued struggling to assert their positions. Furthermore, the dispute had broadened to ideology, as the centralists were conservatives, while the federalists were liberals, whether moderates or radicals.

This was also reflected in society. Normally, liberal traders and professionals used to be progressives. On the contrary, the landowners, members of the clergy and the military belonged to the conservative sector.

Measures against the Catholic Church

Already in the Congress of Cúcuta, in which Gran Colombia was created, the deputies had promulgated laws that limited the power of the Church. Among them, the end of the Inquisition and the closure of monasteries with less than 8 inhabitants.

Despite this, the Church retained great popular support and continued to be a fundamental actor in the country's politics.

Jose Ignacio de Marquez

The candidates for the presidential elections of 1837 were José María Obando, a liberal and proposed by Santander, and José Ignacio Márquez, also a liberal but more moderate. Despite the fact that the former was a favorite, Márquez achieved the victory. This caused much discontent among Santander supporters.

In this way, the progressives became the first opposition party. At that time, they were joined by the Catholic Society, since it considered that Márquez was more anti-religious than Obando.

A few months after the formation of the government, the president had to replace the Santanderistas who remained in his team. In their place, he named two former Bolivarians, Pedro Alcántara Herrán and Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera.

A few days later, the supporters of Santander, and therefore of Obando, published articles in their newspaper reviving the flame of federalism. The like-minded leaders of some provinces began to ask for a constitutional reform in that sense.

Rebellion of the tenement houses

When Márquez tried to enforce the law on minor monasteries, the population and the church of Pasto reacted violently. Thus, there was a riot during the military garrisons in the area were attacked.

That uprising, which took place in July 1839, is known as the rebellion of the tenement houses and heralded the war that would come later.

Causes

The cause that unleashed the conflict was, as previously indicated, the law that sought to dissolve the convents that had less than 8 friars.

Soon, however, that motivation was mixed with the federalist demands of the Supremes, the regional warlords who led the anti-government camp. The name comes from the fact that each leader was called the Supreme Commander of his army.

Those caudillos were Reyes Patria in Tunja, Juan A. Gutiérrez in Cartagena, Salvador Córdoba in Antioquia, José María Vesga in Mariquita, Tolima, Manuel González in El Socorro and Francisco Carmona in Santa Marta.

According to experts, the religious motive was nothing more than the excuse for those leaders to take up arms. Many of his supporters were landowners and slave owners. Therefore, they considered that the government's liberal policy could harm their interests.

The war spread very soon. The population of Nueva Granada was very dissatisfied and did not respond to Márquez's attempts to negotiate.

Closure of convents

The convent closure law was eight years old when the Márquez government ordered it to be applied. It only affected minor monasteries, with less than 8 friars. In addition, he had the support of the Archbishop of Bogotá.

According to the law, which was to affect the Pasto area, the sale of the goods obtained after the closure of the convents would go to educational organizations, many of them religious.

However, the measure met with the opposition of Father Francisco de la Villota y Barrera, superior of the Oratory of San Felipe Neri. The people of Pasto immediately sided with the religious.

The rebellion that broke out was supported by José María Obando. He declared himself Supreme Director of the war and obtained the support of the Patía guerrilla, led by Juan Gregorio Sarria.

Fragmentation of power

Territorial fragmentation and, therefore, of power, had been permanent since the independence of New Granada. Simón Bolívar, when he created Gran Colombia, pointed out the need to concentrate power and weaken the regional leaders.

Before the War of the Supreme, the situation had not changed. The regional caudillos took advantage of the religious excuse to rise up against the central government. They intended with this to increase their power, weakening the centralists.

Development

Shadowxfox, from Wikimedia Commons

After the first armed uprisings in Pasto, Governor Antonio José Chávez tried to reach an agreement with the rebels. President Márquez did not support the negotiation and sent General Alcántara de Herrán to end the rebellion.

Before responding militarily, he offered the insurgents a pardon. The answer was negative and they declared their intention to proclaim a federal state and to become independent from Bogotá.

Sending more troops

The government then decided to send more troops. In command of this he appointed General Mosquera, Secretary of War and Navy.

The rebels continued their attacks. Mosquera and Alcántara Herrán asked the President of Ecuador for help, who responded by sending 2,000 soldiers to Nueva Granada.

Obando trial

Herrán's victory over the rebels of Pasto in the battle of Buesaco, which took place on August 31, 1839, made the pro-government think that the revolt had been defeated. During the pursuit of the fled rebels, the soldiers detained José Eraso, a former Obando supporter.

This former guerrilla was famous because Sucre had slept in his house the night before his assassination, which occurred in 1830. Eraso was a kind of double agent, since he claimed to be a supporter of the government while informing the rebels about the movements of government troops.

Upon being captured, Eraso thought that his arrest was due to his participation in the murder of Sucre and confessed to being its author. What complicated the situation was that he pointed to José María Obando as the intellectual author of the crime. A Pasto judge issued an arrest warrant against Obando, then the candidate with the most options for the next elections.

Obando, upon finding out, went to Pasto with the aim of surrendering himself and facing the trial. Historians doubt if it was all a Márquez hoax to end his rival's presidential options or if he was really guilty.

Uprising of Obando

Although at first he was willing to stand trial, Obando changed his mind in January 1840. The general, feeling excluded from government decisions and accused of Sucre's death, took up arms in Cauca and Pasto. There, he proclaimed himself Supreme Director of the war and affirmed that he rebelled to defend religion and federalism.

Obando's rebellion soon infected some regional caudillos who considered themselves damaged by the centralism of the Bogotá government. During the following months, armed insurrections commanded by regional leaders, the so-called Supreme, were repeated.

These caudillos attacked government troops in various places. Like Obando, they claimed to do so because of what happened to the monasteries in Pasto. Furthermore, the support of the Ecuadorian troops for the government's cause only increased the supporters of the insurgents.

President Márquez's situation became unsustainable. The press attacked him ruthlessly. The death of Francisco de Paula Santander, head of the Liberals, made the tension grow. Eventually, Márquez was forced to resign from power.

Domingo Caicedo

On a provisional basis, Márquez was replaced by General Domingo Caicedo. This one tried to calm the partisans of each side, without obtaining any success. The followers of Santander demanded changes in the administration and the revolts continued taking place in several provinces.

By the end of 1840, the government had lost much of the territory. Only Bogotá, Neiva, Buenaventura and Chocó continued to support him, compared to 19 rebel provinces.

The moment that could change the final result of the war occurred when the Supreme Court of the Socorro province was about to take Bogotá with its 2,500 men. The capital was practically without defenses and only the intervention of the hero of independence Juan José Neira managed to stop the offensive.

At that time, the government entrusted all its military forces to Generals Pedro Alcántara Herrán and Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. They were joined by the former Bolivarians and moderate liberals.

New president

Shadowxfox, from Wikimedia Commons

In March 1841, Márquez's presidential term ended. The one chosen to occupy the position was Alcántara de Herrán, who initially rejected the appointment. However, his resignation was not accepted by Congress.

The new government reorganized its troops to try to finish off the Supreme. To do this, he divided the army into four divisions. The first, under the command of Mosquera, was destined for Cauca and was the one that carried out the most important victories of the war.

Defeats of Obando

After months of war, Mosquera had managed to completely defeat Obando. His reaction was to try to flee to Peru and request political asylum.

Alcántara Herrán took the lead of the troops to go to the north of the country. His first objective was to take Ocaña, which he achieved on September 8, 1841. Later, he recovered Puerto Nacional and the nearby cities.

End of the war

The defeat in Ocaña, in addition to those that occurred in other regions, made the war decided in favor of the central government. The Supreme ones surrendered to justice and recognized the authority of Bogotá.

Historians officially date the end of the War of the Supreme to January 29, 1842. A week later, President Alcántara Herrán granted amnesty to all those involved in the conflict.

Consequences

Experts point to several direct consequences of the civil war in New Granada. The first, the confrontation between the provincial leaders and the central power, without either side having sufficient strength to fully impose themselves. This situation continued to occur for many years.

Another consequence was the formation of two very defined political currents. On the one hand, Santanderism, which would end up giving rise to the Liberal Party. On the other, the Bolivarian current, with a conservative ideology. This last trend was joined by the Catholic Church, very powerful in the country.

Finally, the War of the Supreme generated many hatreds and spirits of revenge, laying the foundations for new conflicts.

Period of military presidents

After Márquez's disappointing presidency, the country did not have a civilian president again until 1857. All the presidents during that period were military.

New Granada Constitution of 1843

At the end of the war, the government began to work on a new constitution that could prevent further confrontations. The result was the Political Constitution of the Republic of New Granada of 1843, in force until 1853.

This Magna Carta strengthened the presidential power. The objective was to provide it with sufficient mechanisms to be able to maintain order throughout the territory and reduce the influence of the regional leaders.

Centralism was imposed as the country's system of organization, eliminating autonomy from the provinces.

References

1. Gutiérrez Cely, Eugenio. Márquez and the war of the supreme. Retrieved from banrepcultural.org
2. Peace / Conflict research group. War of the Supreme. Obtained from colombiasiglo19
3. Internet Training Center. The War of the Supreme and the formation of political parties. Obtained from docencia.udea.edu.co
4. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. War Of The Supremes. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. José María Obando. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Bushnell, David. The Making of Modern Colombia: A Nation in Spite of Itself. Recovered from books.google.es
7. Kline, Harvey F. Historical Dictionary of Colombia. Recovered from books.google.es