First Costa Rican Republic
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The First Costa Rican Republic is the name given to the
historical period In historiography, periodization is the process or study of categorizing the past into discrete, quantified, and named blocks of time for the purpose of study or analysis.Adam Rabinowitz.It's about time: historical periodization and Linked Ancie ...
between the proclamation of the Republic of Costa Rica in the 1848 reformed Constitution and the official decree by then President José María Castro Madriz on 31 August 1848 and the Costa Rican Civil War of 1948 which ended with the enactment of the current 1949 Constitution on 7 November 1949 starting the Second Costa Rican Republic. The First Costa Rican Republic marked the dominion of the liberal ideology and the hegemony of a very powerful liberal oligarchy that ruled the country for most of its history. The liberal hegemony was so prevalent that the period between 1870 and 1940 is known as the '' Liberal State''. However, the exhaustion of the model and discontent from the working classes would result in a series of left-leaning social-reformist governments in the 1930s and 1940s and the consequent civil war.


History

The First Republic was founded by the last President of the Free State of Costa Rica and first President of the Republic of Costa Rica José María Castro Madriz earning the official title of “Father of the Republic” in Costa Rica's law. Liberal and freemason, Madriz was a brilliant intellectual trying to promote a very enlighten society. Madriz would be president in two non-consecutive terms, both of them deposed by the military. During this period the long authoritarian government of General Tomás Guardia happened. However, Guardia was also a liberal and promoted some progressive reforms including the abolition of the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...
and the use of
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...
since 1871. Guardia's Constitution of 1871 is the longer lasting Constitution of Costa Rica to this date. Another important presidency was that of Juan Rafael Mora Porras, caudillo during the Filibuster War which is by many historians considered Costa Rica's true “war of independence”. Despite its achievements in many areas including economy, secularization, freedoms and civil rights, the liberal hegemony gave little space for dissent. Both the conservatives and the more left-leaning groups were excluded from power by the use of questionable methods, and authoritarian governments and factional fighting among the liberals were common. For example, the 1889 Costa Rican general election saw the fights between the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
supporting candidate José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón against liberal Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra with the government of then president Bernardo Soto Alfaro openly supporting Esquivel and almost rejecting Zeledón's victory until popular unrest changed his mind and caused his resignation. Similarly president Alfredo González Flores attempt to tax the Grand Capital caused the 1917 Costa Rican coup d'état by Federico Tinoco and his short-lived two years dictatorship. But the real challenge to the Liberal model would come from the
left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...
groups that started to flourish in the early 20th century, including groups of Christian socialists, social-democrats, anarchists,
socialists Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes the economic, political, and socia ...
and
communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...
. This helped in the victory of Christian socialist candidate Rafael Angel Calderón Guardia in the 1940 Costa Rican general election. Calderón's alliance with the Communist Party of Costa Rica led by Manuel Mora and the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
led by archbishop allowed the Social Reform, which at the same time would cause the outbreak of the Civil War.


Government

The Constitution of 1847 creates for the first time the office of President of the Republic (formerly President of the State) and a Vice President is created to replace him in his temporary or permanent absences, however the position of vice president would be abolished in 1859 and not it would be restored until the creation of the two vice-presidencies in 1949. In their place there were "appointed to the presidency" elected among the legislators. The Constitution of 1847 established a unicameral system with a single parliament called Constitutional Congress, however the constitutions of 1844, 1859, 1869 and 1917 all stipulated bicameral systems with a
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
and a House of Representatives or Deputies. It also established an Independent judiciary.


Religion

The 1847 Constitution established the official status of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
as the state religion and the prohibition of any other public worship. However, the 1848 Constitutional reform despite keeping the official status and the exclusive right to receive public funding, also allowed
freedom of religion Freedom of religion or religious liberty, also known as freedom of religion or belief (FoRB), is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice ...
. All other Constitutions kept the state religion status of Catholicism and the duty of the State to funding it, but explicitly established the religious tolerance of the other faiths which was a difference from most of the Constitutions of the previous State of Costa Rica that made Catholicism mandatory. The Costa Rican population at the time was very homogenous religiously and almost all of the population was Catholic.
Freemasonry Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
was introduced in 1865 and soon became popular among the liberal elites, alongside the influential
Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...
. A series of anti-clerical measures after the consolidation of the Liberal State after 1870 which included the expulsion of the
Jesuits The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
and prohibition of all monastic orders, expulsion of Bishop Bernard Thiel, secularization of education and cemeteries, closure of the Santo Tomás University and legalization of
divorce Divorce (also known as dissolution of marriage) is the process of terminating a marriage or marital union. Divorce usually entails the canceling or reorganising of the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage, thus dissolving the M ...
and civil marriage caused tensions with the Catholic Church that almost causes a civil uprising during the 1889 Costa Rican general election. However, after a while both the Church and the liberal elite found themselves enjoying a certain stability with their respective camps of action thoroughly delimited. On June 1, 1902 the first official lodge of the
Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...
is founded in the country. Further migratory waves of new ethnic groups attracted for economic opportunities or escaping poverty or persecution in their countries made even more diverse the religious landscape including the immigration of
Polish Jews The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jews, Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the long pe ...
,
Maronite Maronites (; ) are a Syriac Christianity, Syriac Christian ethnoreligious group native to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant (particularly Lebanon) whose members belong to the Maronite Church. The largest concentration has traditionally re ...
Lebanese,
Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...
Chinese and
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
Jamaicans Jamaicans are the citizens of Jamaica and their descendants in the Jamaican diaspora. The vast majority of Jamaicans are of Sub-Saharan African descent, with minorities of Europeans, Indians, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and others of mixed a ...
during late 19th and early 20th century.


References

{{Costa Rica topics Former countries in Central America 19th century in Costa Rica 20th century in Costa Rica Liberalism in Costa Rica