Contentious Republicans

Sanders James E. Sanders

Description

Contentious Republicans explores the mid-nineteenth-century rise of mass electoral democracy in the southwestern region of Colombia, a country many assume has never had a meaningful democracy of any sort. James E. Sanders describes a surprisingly rich republicanism characterized by legal rights and popular participation, and he explains how this vibrant political culture was created largely by competing subaltern groups seeking to claim their rights as citizens and their place in the political sphere. Moving beyond the many studies of nineteenth-century nation building that focus on one segment of society, Contentious Republicans examines the political activism of three distinct social and racial groups: Afro-Colombians, Indians, and white peasant migrants.Beginning in the late 1840s, subaltern groups entered the political arena to forge alliances, both temporary and enduring, with the elite Liberal and Conservative Parties. In the process, each group formed its own political discourses and reframed republicanism to suit its distinct needs. These popular liberals and popular conservatives bargained for the parties' support and deployed a broad repertoire of political actions, including voting, demonstrations, petitions, strikes, boycotts, and armed struggle. By the 1880s, though, many wealthy Colombians of both parties blamed popular political engagement for social disorder and economic failure, and they successfully restricted lower-class participation in politics. Sanders suggests that these reactionary developments contributed to the violence and unrest afflicting modern Colombia. Yet in illuminating the country's legacy of participatory politics in the nineteenth century, he shows that the current situation is neither inevitable nor eternal.

Sujets

• Histoire
• América del Sur
• South America
• History of the Americas
• Colombia

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 03 février 2004
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822385745
• Langue: English

Extrait

CONT E NT I OUS RE PUBL I CANS

C O N T E N T I O U S R E P U B L I C A N S

Popular Politics, Race, and Class in Nineteenth-Century Colombia

j ames e. sanders

Duke University Press

Durham and London 2004

∫2004 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$

Typeset in Quadraat by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data

appear on the last printed page of this book.

for michael francis jiménez 1948–2001

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Acknowledgments

Contents

Introduction: A Social History of Politics

‘‘We the Undersigned, Citizens of the State’’: Three Forms of Popular Republicanism

A New Politics: The Emergence of Republican Bargaining, 1848–1853

Fragmented Hegemony: The Limits of Elite Power, 1853–1863

The Triumph of Democracy, 1863–1876

Failure of Discipline: The Suppression of Popular Politics, 1875–1886

Conclusion: Popular Republicans’ Legacies

Notes

Abbreviations

Bibliography

Index

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Acknowledgments

I begin by thanking my wife, Jennifer Duncan, the most generous yet critical reader, always reminding me to follow the story. My family in Lake City, Florida, have always been supportive, even if what I do often seems a little strange; when I was a graduate student, my grandfather could never quite believe I was being paid to read books. In Colombia, more people took an interest in my project and o√ered me more assistance than I ever expected. I thank especially Isabel Cristina Bermú- dez, Beatriz Castro Carvajal, Guiomar Dueñas, José Escorcia, Margarita Garrido, Gary Long, Eduardo Mejía, Eduardo Sáenz, and Fabio Zambrano. My most heart- felt thanks go out to the eminent chronicler of the nineteenth-century Cauca, Alonso Valencia Llano, who generously helped my project along in numerous ways. I was always made to feel welcome in Colombia’s wonderful archives. I salute the sta√s of the Archivo Central del Cauca, the Archivo del Congreso, the Archivo General de la Nación, the Archivo Histórico Municipal de Cali, the Biblioteca Nacional, and the archive ofincora. Special thanks go to María Leonilde Chirva, at the Biblioteca Nacional, Gladys Martínez and Martha Jeanet Sierra at the Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, and Hedwig Hartmann Garcés at the Archivo Central del Cauca. Along the way, I have met many other Colombianistas whose company and ideas enriched the research and writing process for me immensely. They include Nancy Appelbaum, Charles Bergquist, Hayley Froysland, Richard Goulet, Marixa Lasso, Catherine LeGrand, Frank Sa√ord, David Sowell, and Brett Troyan. I first encountered Aims McGuinness in Bogotá, where we wasted much time over

chocolates, bouncing ideas o√ each other and reworking our future books; we have continued our discussions, but mostly now over email and the phone, without, alas, thechocolates. Research support was provided by University of Pittsburgh Mellon Fellow- ships and a Center for Latin American Studies Graduate Student Field Research Grant. Some material on indigenous groups first appeared in my ‘‘Belonging to the Great Granadan Family: Partisan Struggle and the Construction of Indige- nous Identity and Politics in Southwestern Colombia, 1849–1890,’’ inRace and Nation in Modern Latin America, ed. Nancy P. Appelbaum, Anne S. Macpherson, and Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003), 56–86. I would also like to thank all the sta√ at Duke University Press. The anonymous readers gave very careful readings and valuable advice. Likewise, Valerie Milholland has been a great editor. Natalie Hanemann at Duke helped with the maps, as did Wendy Mann-Eliot of Hillman Library. So many people helped me, especially those who read draft manuscripts, that I fear listing them for leaving someone out; nevertheless, thanks to Jennifer Belden-England, John Beverley, Seymour Drescher, Mike Ervin, Alejandro de la Fuente, K. C. Johnson, Shirley Kreger, Marcus Rediker, and Matilde Zimmermann. Of course, any faults and shortcomings are mine alone. Special thanks to Reid Andrews, who made this book (and me as a scholar) so much better through his rigorous critiques and trenchant suggestions. I hope I keep writing on topics that interest him so that I can continue asking him to read my work. Finally, I dedicate this book to Michael Jiménez, my adviser and great friend. Michael is in so much of this work, both as an intellectual presence and as an inspiration. Whenever I reread these pages, they remind me of our conver- sations and debates and his expansive, wise counsel. So it saddens me to leave this work now for other things. I am not sure what we will do without him.

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