Bolívar, Simón:

$12,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

SIMON BOLIVAR LIBERTADOR PRESIDENTE DE COLOMBIA &c &c &c. COLOMBIANOS! LAS VOLUNTADES PUBLICAS SE HABIAN ESPRESADO ENERJICAMENTE POR LAS REFORMAS POLITICAS DE LA NACION...[caption title and first ... An extremely rare broadside printing of Bolívar's declaration of dictatorial powers, addressed to the people of Gran Colombia, together with the Decreto Orgánico issued by him, outlining the organization of his new government. The two documents - bearing the same watermark, folds, and publication date - appear to have been issued together to the Treasury; a contemporary hand has written "Tesoreria" on the first leaf, and the wear patterns suggest that they have been kept together for some time.Simón Bolívar was already president and founding hero of Gran Colombia (present-day Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and parts of Peru). In February 1827, with the nation floundering and on the point of fragmentation, Bolívar had proposed resigning his position as president, claiming he had no desire for dictatorial control. The Congress rejected his resignation. After a failed constitutional convention in the summer of 1828, Bolívar declared himself, by this decree, dictator for life, in what was intended as a temporary measure to maintain unification.In the first document Bolívar addresses the "Colombianos," explaining his reasoning for the extraordinary measures granting him absolute power over the government. He also assures his countrymen that he will not remain a dictator any lon

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