[Chile]: [Egaña, Juan]:

$2,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

CONSTITUCION POLITICA DEL ESTADO DE CHILE. PROMULGADA EN 29 DE DICIEMBRE DE 1823. Chile's short-lived but significant constitution of 1823, nicknamed the "Moralistic Constitution." Chile's first officially independent constitution was adopted in 1818 and granted revolutionary leader Bernardo O'Higgins considerable power, which he consolidated further in a widely despised revision in 1822. O'Higgins was peacefully deposed by a new, more conservative group under the leadership of Ramón Freire in early 1823, and a special congress was convened to create a new constitution, presided over by Juan Egaña. Egaña was chiefly responsible for drafting and proposing the present document, which was approved the next day and promulgated the day after.The eighty-one page, 277-article document begins with an outwardly liberal appearance: after stating that "Chile is a nation independent of the Spanish monarchy and of any other power," it declares that its "constitutional protections and laws protect every individual who lives in Chile," and provides citizenship to any person who has lived and worked in the country for one year [all quotations our own translation]. It further states that "every Chilean is equal before the law," and takes a firm stand against slavery. Article eight reads in full that "In Chile there are no slaves: any who stands on its territory for one natural day will be free. Any who carry on the business [of slavery] may not live here more than one month, and may never be

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