Venezuela’s 1830 Constitution: A Historical Analysis
The Constituent Congress of 1830
Venezuela needed a legal foundation, a legal entity that the head of state could not provide. General Paez was perfectly aware of this and, therefore, proceeded to issue the decree of convocation for election day, January 13, 1830.
Importance of the Constituent Congress
The importance of the Congress in Valencia in 1830 lies in the fact that it established, during its sessions, the basis for the existence of the Republic of Venezuela.
Centralism
It is a political practice by which the government retains full control of the public administration. All the political-administrative bodies are focused on the Executive, who wields power, whether monarchical or presidential.
Federalism
In this system, several states unite in a single political bloc. Within the structure, each member retains its autonomy of action.
Right of Suffrage
This law is an institution within the Republican practice, and especially in the exercise of democracy. Citizens exercise the right to vote in electoral days for the selection of rulers and the restoration of the powers of the nation.
Revolutions as Influential Elements in Politics
We understand revolution as an act of collective strength, resulting in a public state of mind, with a defined social policy goal, which aims to transform, more or less radically, the legal and economic structure of a state.
The Attack on Congress
On December 10, 1847, the conservatives, in retaliation against President José Tadeo Monagas, formulated a formal accusation before Congress.
- The Executive Power performed acts without the authority to do so.
- The military has been used against Article 121.
- The President has exercised the administration of the state outside the capital, in violation of Article 113 of the Constitution.
Federal Revolution
The actions of President Julian Castro were the breeding ground for the enemies of centralism and advocates of federalism to organize overseas, in places where the political situation and the decisions of the incumbent government had banished them.
- Implementation of the federal system as a form of government.
- Abolition of the death penalty for ordinary crimes.
- Establishment of the free navigation of Venezuelan waters.
- Free transit through any part of the Republic.
Restorative Revolution
Since the late nineteenth century, President Ignacio Andrade, in an attempt to stop the opposition to his rule, determined to banish a group of opposition figures.
1830 Constitution
This fundamental charter is of the highest political-legal importance to Venezuela because it is the foundation upon which the Fourth Republic of Venezuela was created and extended until 1999.
- Determines the organization of the Republic of Venezuela within a federal-central regime.
- Sets the political-territorial division of the country into 12 provinces.
- Gathers for the first time the territorial effects of Uti Possidetis as a right of jurisdiction over the national territory.