The United States and the Early Constitutional Movements in New Granada, Venezuela, and Ecuador, 1810–30

This paper will examine the extent to which the US republic and the ideas underpinning its experience influenced the process of independence in New Granada, Venezuela and Ecuador, which together formed a single national state, known in the historiography as Gran Colombia, between 1819 and 1830.  While taking into account the general circulation of ideas and people, the paper will focus on the early constitutional movement that developed during the first republican experiments.  This is particularly relevant for at least three reasons.  Firstly, the emerging republics adopted an extraordinary number of constitutions –over ten in New Granada alone, between 1811 and 1815, some of them adopted before the 1812 Cádiz constitution.  Secondly, with some significant exceptions (such as Daniel Gutiérrez Ardila and Isidro Vanegas), these early constitutionalism continues to be by and large neglected among modern scholars.  And thirdly, an examination of these early constitutional movements will serve the purpose of engaging with important debates regarding the impact of the 1812 Cádiz constitution and the diffusion of constitutionalism in Spanish America during the age of revolutions.  The paper will argue that, contrary to some dominant trends, the US experience had a significant influence in the early constitutional movement examined here.  But rather than siding with diffusionist approaches, the paper pays close attention to local circumstances and political actors in their efforts to deal with the immediate pressures of revolutionary times.