The Colombian Constitution of 1821, also known as Constitution of Cúcuta, or Constitution of Gran Colombia, was the founding document and constitution of the Republic of Colombia.It was adpoted by the Congress of Cúcuta, whose deputies represented the peoples of New Granada and Venezuela, following the ratification of their political union under the Fundamental Law of the Union of the Peoples of Colombia in July 1821. The constitution established Colombia as a centralized representative republic, wich governmental power divided in legislative, executive and judicial power. It was adopted and signed at the Villa del Rosario de Cúcuta on 30 of August of 1821, it was sanctioned by president Simón Bolívar on October 1821.
History The antecedents are the Congress of Angostura in 1819 and the assembly of notables in Bogotá made by Santander in 1820. After the delays in assembling the required deputies, the general congress was formally installed by Antonio Nariño at the villa del Rosario on 6 of may 1821, with 57 deputies representing 19 provinces of New Granada and Venezuela, later 71 congress participants; 44 representing new granadan provinces and 27 representing venezuelan provinces. The congress of Cúcuta was therefore already in session before the Battle of Carabobo of 24 june 1821.
On 12 of July 1821, the representatives of the peoples of New Granada and Venezuela, assembled in General Congress and adopted the Fundamental Law of the Union of the Peoples of Colombia. The law stated that the New Granadan assembly and new Colombian congress had examined the fundamental law adopted by the Congress of Venezuela at Angostura in 1819 and declared the provinces of New Granada and Venezuela united in single nation under the title of the Republic of Colombia (Gran Colombia).
The new elected congress subsequently completed the new constitution, which was approved at Cúcuta on 30 of August 1821. The Constitution established the political institutions of the republic under a centralized, representative system of government and consisted of 10 titles and 191 articles. It was sanctioned by President Simón Bolívar on 6 of October of 1821.
See also Gran Colombia
References
Bibliography Bushnell, David (1970). The Santander Regime in Gran Colombia. Westport: Greenwood Press. Gibson, William Marion (1948). The Constitutions of Colombia. Durham: Duke University Press.