Simón Bolívar · Politics

Angostura: Laws Fit for a People

Bolívar’s political theory in the 1819 Address at Angostura - why he thought pure democracy and federalism would wreck the new republics, his case for a strong executive, a hereditary senate, and a fourth ‘moral power,’ all resting on one principle: laws must be tailored to the character of the people who must live under them.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that in the Angostura Address (1819) Bolívar argued, following Montesquieu, that laws must suit the character of a people; that pure democracy and loose federalism would fail in nations with no experience of self-rule; and that he proposed a strong executive, a hereditary senate, and a fourth ‘moral…

Leads to Baron de Montesquieu.

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