United Provinces of Central America: Map & History

History

At Central America's independence from Mexico, the Central American congress established the United Provinces of Central America. The following day, the congress reorganized as the National Constituent Assembly and tasked itself with drafting a constitution for newly-independent Central America. José Matías Delgado was Central America's provisional president until 10 July 1823, when the National Constituent Assembly appointed a triumvirate consisting of Arce, Juan Vicente Villacorta and Pedro Molina Mazariegos. Since Arce was in the United States when the triumvirate was established, Antonio Rivera Cabezas was appointed as his substitute. The three rotated executive power on a monthly basis.

Government and politics

According to the federal constitution, the government of the Federal Republic of Central America was "popular, representative, and federal". All elected officials were appointed with indirect elections; voters chose electors who would vote on their behalf, rather than voting directly for candidates seeking public office. In presidential, vice-presidential and legislative elections, there were three rounds of voting; voters chose electors in the first round, electors voted for a further set of electors in the second round, and those electors voted for candidates seeking public office in the third round. Voting was compulsory.

The federal republic's government was divided into legislative, executive and judicial branches, with no term limits.

Economy

On 19 March 1824, the National Constituent Assembly passed a law that prohibited the minting of coins with "the bust, coat of arms, or whatever other emblems which are typical and distinctive of the Spanish monarchy" ("el busto, escudo de armas o cualesquiera otros emblemas que sean propios y distintivos de la monarquía española"). The law also ordered the creation of a new currency. The obverse would depict the country's coat of arms, and the reverse would depict a tree with the phrase "Grow Free and Fertile" ("Libre Cresca Fecundo").

The Central American currency, known as the "national currency", was divided into escudos, pesos, and reales. One escudo equaled two pesos, and one peso equaled eight reales.

Legacy

Richard A. Haggerty, an editor for the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, described the Federal Republic of Central America as "unworkable" but the "only successful political union of the Central American states" after the end of Spanish colonial rule. El Salvador's Ministry of Education described the federal republic as a "political laboratory" ("laboratorio político") for ideas such as republicanism and constitutionalism.

Some experts criticized the federal constitution as "too idealistic", as a major component of the federal republic's collapse.