Origins of the Council of State

Abstract

In this article, a historical journey is made around the creation, evolution, disappearance and subsequent resurgence of the Council of State corporation, as an institution that legislates on the destinies of the newly liberated provinces of the Spanish monarchy in what are today Colombia and Venezuela. There are two conjunctural moments that make up this institutional event. The first experience occurs in 1817, in the newly liberated province of Angostura. Promoted by Bolívar, this provisional Council of State is within the institutional limitations of a government that is still insurgent, in the emergence of a state of war and barracks. Already in the time of the Republic, and after the failure of the Convention of Ocaña (1828) and the extinction of the validity of the Constitution of Villa del Rosario de Cúcuta (1821), Bolívar stands as  the supreme head of the Colombian nation through decree to rule the State until 1830, with the obvious and bitter political disputes that such a decision would arousein the new Republic. The Council of State obtains its constitutional sanction in 1830 and is formalized in the Constitution of 1832. The experience of the civil war of 1840- 1841 raises doubts about its authority and suitability, which lead the State Council to a political dispute that will lead to its repeal, on the part of the constituents of 1843.Only 43 years later, in the Constitution of 1886, this corporation of the State Council will come back to life to maintain itself to this day.