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Simón Bolívar
Historical figureVenezuela1783-1830

Simón Bolívar

Leader of independence movements in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia · President of Gran Colombia (1819-1830)

A Venezuelan general and statesman who led the break from Spanish rule in what are now five countries, and who urged strong, centralized republics and a union of the Americas.

Compare yourself See the 12 scores
Profile on 12 axes5 of 12 documented
ECONOMYSTATESOCIETYWORLDOwnershipMarketsWelfareAuthoritySecurityStructureMoralityReligionTechnologyCultureTradeForeign
Where they stood

Simón Bolívar, axis by axis

  1. 01OwnershipNo clear record
    PublicPrivate

    No steady position on property ownership is recorded for the early 19th century.

  2. 02MarketsNo clear record
    PlannedFree

    No steady economic doctrine is recorded, and the early 19th-century setting gives little to go on.

  3. 03WelfareNo clear record
    SharedSelf-reliant

    There is no reasonable basis for a score in the early 19th-century setting.

  4. 04Authority+55
    DemocraticStrong leader

    He named popular sovereignty and divided powers as republican ideals. But he suggested a hereditary senate and a strong executive, took a life presidency under his 1826 constitution and from 1828 ruled Gran Colombia by decree.

  5. 05Security+45
    LibertyOrder
  6. 06Structure+70
    LocalCentral
  7. 07MoralityNo clear record
    ProgressiveTraditional

    No recorded view on family life or moral law fits this axis.

  8. 08Religion-10
    SecularReligious

    Historians argue over how devout he was. The Church's royalist sympathies angered him in wartime, yet he wanted its backing for the new states.

  9. 09TechnologyNo clear record
    EmbraceCaution

    There is no reasonable basis for a score in the early 19th-century setting.

  10. 10CultureNo clear record
    MulticulturalNational identity

    He saw Spanish Americans as a blended people and sought to unite them, an outlook that does not map onto modern immigration debates.

  11. 11TradeNo clear record
    GlobalProtected

    No steady view on tariffs or trade is recorded.

  12. 12Foreign policy-20
    CooperationStrength

    He was a soldier-liberator, but he also promoted a league of the new American republics and a meeting of their delegates at Panama, which tips him slightly toward cooperation.

7 axes have no clear record, so matching leaves them out.

Who was Simón Bolívar?

Simón Bolívar came from a rich creole family in Caracas, and his outlook was shaped by Enlightenment books and time in Europe. From 1810 he fought for independence from Spain in Venezuela and New Granada. Wins such as Boyacá in 1819 and Carabobo in 1821 made him president of Gran Colombia. Along with Antonio José de Sucre, he then campaigned in Ecuador and Peru, and Spanish rule on the continent was over by 1825. Bolivia took his name. Revolts at home led him to take dictatorial powers in 1828. He resigned in 1830 and died the same year in Santa Marta.

Political views

  • He wrote that the young republics should give up federal systems and concentrate power in the presidency.Source: es.wikisource.org
  • He proposed a hereditary senate to steady the state and insisted it would not make a nobility.Source: es.wikisource.org
  • For him, republican principles included the people's sovereignty, divided powers, civil liberty, and the end of both slavery and monarchy.Source: es.wikisource.org
  • He described the idea of merging the New World into a single nation as 'grandiose', yet doubted that one government could work.Source: es.wikisource.org
  • He hoped a congress of the American republics might one day meet on the Isthmus of Panama, and he worked toward it in 1826.Source: es.wikisource.org
  • After receiving Haitian help in 1816, he declared slaves free if they joined the independence cause.Source: en.wikipedia.org
  • His Decree of War to the Death in 1813 marked for death any Spaniard who did not support independence. He canceled it later.Source: en.wikipedia.org

Legacy

Much of South America honors Bolívar as El Libertador, and his name is on nations, money, plazas and political movements. His fans see the father of a continent of free republics and an early champion of Latin American unity. In his lifetime, opponents such as ex-vice president Francisco de Paula Santander, who split with him in 1827, warned that a lifelong presidency and government by decree endangered the republic. Historians also stress how brutal his wars were, how limited his steps against slavery stayed, and how quickly Gran Colombia fell apart after his death. Groups from conservatives to Venezuela's left claim him as their own.

In their own words

“The most perfect system of government is the one that produces the greatest possible happiness, the greatest social security and the greatest political stability.”
Address to the Congress of Angostura, 1819, translated from Spanish

How close are you to Simón Bolívar?

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Simón Bolívar: questions

Was Simón Bolívar a dictator?

For parts of his career, yes. He held dictatorial powers in Peru in 1824 and again in Gran Colombia from 1828, ruling by decree. Critics were also alarmed by the life presidency in his 1826 constitution.

What did Simón Bolívar believe?

He believed in independence from Spain, in rule by the people, and in ending slavery and monarchy. He also wanted strong, centralized republics and, eventually, links among the American states.

Was Bolívar left or right?

He does not fit neatly. He stood for liberty and independence but also wanted powerful presidents and a hereditary senate, and very different groups claim him now.

Sources