top of page

That Time Central America was a Country

newspaper59

Mitch Addison, 28


In the year 1821, Spain’s colonial empire started to shatter as Mexico officially gained its independence along with Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Mexico would then form a short-lived empire following their independence. The empire would collapse when internal political conflict between the Emperor and people seeking a Mexican republic forced him to reconvene a formerly dismantled congress and resign from the throne. Following the resignation of the Emperor, delegates from the Central American provinces met in Guatemala City where they declared their independence and the formation of a federal republic. This republic would be known as the United Provinces of Central America. The provinces would enjoy complete, local autonomy. Suffrage, or the right to vote, was available only to the upper classes; slavery was abolished; and the Roman Catholic Church retained its privileges. In 1825, Manuel José Arce was elected the first President of the United Provinces of Central America.

Eventually, liberal-conservative tensions began to rise, fueled by the dissatisfaction of Arce’s victory in the election. Extreme liberals and radicals claimed that Arce allied himself with conservatives in order to gain their votes. This turned out to be true. Once Arce tried to replace the liberal governor of Guatemala City with a conservative, the tensions erupted into a civil war. The civil war lasted three years, from 1826 to 1829. Despite the fact that the liberal General Francisco Morazán won the civil war for the liberals, tensions between the conservatives and the liberals would extend beyond the short life of the United Provinces.


Following the civil war, Morazán was made president of the United Province of Central America. His presidency exiled many leading conservatives, the archbishop, and other clergy that were associated with conservatives. The Catholic Church lost some of its privileges, and many other laws  enacted anticlerical, social, economic, educational, and judicial reforms. The capital was also moved to San Salvador, the current capital of El Salvador. These reforms greatly angered the conservatives, leading to some small revolts that Morazán dedicated his first term to. After the election of 1834, the conservative candidate that won the presidency died before taking office, leaving Morazán as president. A combination of Morazán and other liberal policies, as well as panic caused by a brief outbreak of cholera in 1837 lead to a final revolt. The revolt was led by Rafael Carrera, who defeated Morazán. Due to this disastrous defeat, Morazán resigned from office in 1840.


By the time Morazán resigned, many of the provinces had already left the union, since Carrera seized control of Guatemala City. The only remaining provinces in the fight were Guatemala and El Salvador. Upon the defeat of Morazán, they went  their separate paths. There would be many more attempts to reform the United Provinces of Central America: one was even by Morazán himself. However, Morazán would be executed in Costa Rica after he failed to fully gain control of the government. Eventually, Guatemala declared itself an autonomous republic in 1847, and Costa Rica would do the same in 1848.

9 views
bottom of page