Federal Republic of Central America

Names

The country's initial name, adopted at independence from the First Mexican Empire on 1 July 1823, was the United Provinces of Central America (Spanish: Provincias Unidas del Centro de América). Upon the adoption of the country's constitution on 22 November 1824, the United Provinces of Central America changed its name to the Federal Republic of Central America (República Federal de Centro América). In the years shortly after independence, some official government documents referred to the country as the Federated States of Central America (Estados Federados del Centro de América). The federal republic has also been referred to as the Federation of Central America (Federación de Centro América).

Background

Colonial Central America

The Spanish conquered Central America in the 16th century. The region was divided into several audiencias (jurisdictions) until, in 1542, it was organized into a single audiencia extending north to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and south to the Isthmus of Panama. Spain transferred control of the Yucatán Peninsula to New Spain (modern-day Mexico) in 1560, and transferred control of Panama to Peru seven years later. In 1568, the Central American audiencia was reorganized as the Captaincy General of Guatemala. The captaincy was subdivided into corregimientos, gobiernos, greater mayorships, and intendancies.

Central America had a caste system, with Spaniards at the top, mixed-race individuals in the middle, and Africans and indigenous Central Americans at the bottom. Spaniards owned most of the region's land and wealth, and indigenous people composed most of its labor force. The Catholic Church dominated all aspects of Central American society during Spanish colonial rule. Although the region's indigenous inhabitants were gradually forced by colonial officials to convert to Catholicism, they retained many of their cultural traditions.

Central American independence

The Spanish king Ferdinand VII was overthrown in 1808 by the French emperor Napoleon, who installed his brother Joseph as king of Spain. Spain's colonies in the Americas (including the Captaincy General of Guatemala) did not recognize Joseph as the legitimate king and established provisional governments, known as juntas, which continued to recognize Ferdinand as king. Although the Central American colonial government remained loyal to Ferdinand, some criollo leaders in Central America wanted greater autonomy. In November 1811, José Matías Delgado and Manuel José Arce launched a rebellion in San Salvador against Spanish rule which was defeated by loyalist forces. Additional independence rebellions occurred in December 1811 in Nicaragua; in 1813 in Guatemala; and in 1814 in San Salvador. All were defeated by loyalist forces, but pro-independence sentiment spread among Central American leaders.

The Cortes of Cádiz (a Spanish constitutional congress in Cádiz) drafted the Spanish Constitution of 1812, which made Spain a constitutional monarchy. Ferdinand repealed the liberal constitution after returning to power in 1814, since he wanted to rule as an absolute monarch. His refusal to rule as a constitutional monarch and the desire of colonial leaders for greater local autonomy led to independence rebellions throughout Spain's American colonies. The rebellions were primarily led by liberals who supported the 1812 constitution's Enlightenment ideals. Conservatives joined the independence movements in 1820, when Ferdinand was forced by Colonel Rafael del Riego to restore the 1812 constitution. On 15 September 1821, Central American colonial leaders declared independence from Spain and signed the Act of Independence of Central America. They established the Consultive Junta to temporarily govern the region until a permanent government could be established. Most government administrators, including Brigadier General Gabino Gaínza (the final captain general of Guatemala), retained their positions.

After independence, Central American leaders were ideologically divided about whether to remain independent or to join the First Mexican Empire; monarchists supported annexation, opposed by republicans and nationalists. Mexican Regent (and later Mexican Emperor) Agustín de Iturbide asked the Consultive Junta to join the First Mexican Empire in November 1821, and the junta voted for annexation on 5 January 1822. The Mexicans sent Brigadier General Vicente Filísola to enforce the annexation. Liberals in Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua resisted Mexican attempts to annex the region. Liberals and conservatives fought in Costa Rica's Ochomogo War, which ended with the liberals gaining control of the country. Liberal rebels in El Salvador, led by Delgado and Arce, resisted two invasions by Filísola in 1822 and 1823. The former ended with an armistice and Mexican withdrawal; the latter resulted in Filísola overthrowing Delgado as the political leader of El Salvador (forcing Arce to flee to the United States) and capturing the city of San Salvador. General José Anacleto Ordóñez launched a rebellion against conservative Nicaraguan political leader Miguel González Saravia y Colarte, capturing several cities. Ordóñez's rebellion continued after Central America declared its independence from Mexico.

History

National Constituent Assembly

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.

Initially, the National Constituent Assembly was composed of delegates from El Salvador and Guatemala; Costa Rica, Honduras, and Nicaragua did not send their delegates until October 1823, refusing to send them until Mexican soldiers withdrew from Central America. The National Constituent Assembly consisted of 64 delegates, distributed across Central America. The National Constituent Assembly was the de facto government of Central America until the constitution was adopted. Its two political factions were the liberals and the conservatives; the liberals supported federalism, and the conservatives supported centralism.

The National Constituent Assembly drafted the constitution on 12 June 1824, and published it on 4 July. The constitution was inspired by the federal government of the United States, the United States Declaration of Independence, and the Spanish Constitution of 1812. On 22 November, the constitution was formally adopted after all 64 members of the assembly signed it. The National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 23 January 1825, and was succeeded by the Federal Congress on 6 February.

On 14 September 1823, Captain Rafael Ariza y Torres began an insurrection in Guatemala City (the capital city) because the Central American government was unable to pay its debts to the military. Although Ariza pledged his loyalty to the National Constituent Assembly, many assembly members fled the city and called on soldiers from Chiquimula, Quetzaltenango, and San Salvador to suppress the insurrection. Neither Ariza's rebels nor Colonel José Rivas and his 750 soldiers from San Salvador wanted a battle. Conservatives took advantage of the situation, and forced the triumvirate to resign on 6 October. They installed a second, less-liberal triumvirate consisting of Arce, José Cecilio del Valle, and Tomás O'Horan. Since Arce and Valle were outside the country when the second triumvirate was formed, José Santiago Milla and Villacorta were substitutes. Valle and Arce did not sit on the triumvirate until February and March 1824, respectively.

Presidency of Manuel José Arce

The federal republic's first presidential election was held on 21 April 1825. Arce was the liberals' candidate, and Valle the conservatives' choice. During the election, 41 of the 82 electors voted for Valle; 34 voted for Arce, four voted for other candidates, and three did not vote due to complications in receiving votes from their electoral districts. No candidate received a majority; the constitution required a majority, and the Federal Congress was tasked with electing the president instead. The congress voted 22–5 to elect Arce president. Valle was entitled to become vice president since he was the runner-up in the election, but refused to accept the position; so did liberal José Francisco Barrundia. Ultimately, the conservative Mariano Beltranena became Arce's vice president. Arce and Beltranena took office on 29 April.

Arce's electoral victory angered conservatives who backed Valle, and alienated liberals (particularly Guatemalan liberals) because he had won the votes of conservative senators by promising to allow the Federal Congress to decide if a Catholic archdiocese would be created in El Salvador; the conservatives opposed the archdiocese because Delgado, a liberal symbol of Salvadoran independence, would have become archbishop. The liberals considered Arce's compromise with the conservatives as betraying his liberal positions. Liberals Molina Mazariegos and Mariano Gálvez refused to accept cabinet appointments as secretary of relations and secretary of finance, respectively, due to this perceived betrayal. Arce appointed conservatives to his cabinet as a result, which led to liberals continuing to accuse him of betraying the liberal cause.

Juan Barrundia, José Francisco Barrundia's brother, opposed the federal government and was one of Arce's foremost critics. He moved Guatemala's capital back to Guatemala City from Antigua Guatemala in mid-1825 (reversing the 1823 move) and seized private property to establish state government offices, since the federal government still occupied the state's government buildings. After Juan Barrundia threatened to raise an army to "contain the despotism of a tyrant" (referring to Arce), the Federal Congress agreed to vacate the building used by the federal treasury and give it to the Guatemalan state government.

In August 1825, in response to the arrival of 28 French warships in the Caribbean Sea, Arce called for the army to raise 10,000 soldiers to defend their country against a European invasion. The Congress of Deputies approved Arce's plan; the Senate vetoed it, however, citing a lack of funding. In mid-1826, Arce reduced his troop requirement to 4,000. Guatemalan liberals in the Federal Congress contacted French military officer Nicolás Raoul to help draft a military code to prevent Arce from controlling the military, and Arce expelled Raoul from the country. Eventually, Arce and the Federal Congress compromised; the congress approved the raising of 4,000 soldiers, and Raoul oversaw recruitment. Despite a minor rebellion in Costa Rica led by José Zamora, who called himself a "vassal of the king of Spain", the feared European invasion did not take place. As the liberals tried to circumvent his role as commander-in-chief, Arce refused to implement laws passed by the Federal Congress; the liberals began impeachment proceedings against him on 2 June 1826. Salvadoran liberals, still loyal to Arce, did not attend the impeachment proceedings and prevented the congress from reaching the quorum necessary to begin them. Ten days later, the Guatemalan liberals abandoned their impeachment attempt.

Presidency of Francisco Morazán

After capturing Guatemala City in April 1828, Beltranena was removed from the presidency; Morazán became the de facto president of Central America, but did not officially assume office. On 22 June 1829, Morazán appointed a new Federal Congress. It elected José Francisco Barrundia, the Senate's senior member, as Central America's interim president three days later. At Morazán's instruction, the Federal Congress declared all legislation passed after September 1826 null and void. Many leading conservatives were imprisoned or exiled under threat of death after the civil war, and many also had their property confiscated. Morazán also cracked down on the church. He expelled many members of the clergy from the country for supporting the conservatives, confiscated Church properties, and forced the church to reduce the number of priests and nuns in the country.

Morazán ran for president in the 1830 federal election. Although he finished first, with 202 electoral votes, he did not win a majority. Similar to 1825, the Federal Congress was given the authority to elect the president; the liberal-dominated congress voted for Morazán, and he took office on 16 September. The Federal Congress elected Prado as Morazán's vice president.

In May 1829, Morazán sent a letter to the Mexican minister of external relations falsely claiming that Central American refugees fleeing to Mexico were actually enemy forces who sought to "chain and submit their towns to the Spanish yoke" ("encadenar y someter sus pueblos al yugo español"). He asked the Mexican government to extradite the refugees back to Central America. Receiving no reply, José Francisco Barrundia sent a letter to Mexican president Vicente Guerrero in November 1829 with the same request; Guerrero did not respond either. After Central American Minister of Relations Manuel Julián Ibarra sent a third request to the Mexican government to extradite the refugees in December 1829, Mexico said that it could grant the Central American request.

Arce threatened to invade the Federal Republic of Central America in late 1831 from Soconusco (a territory along the Pacific coast claimed by Central America and Mexico over which neither had full control) to reclaim the presidency. General Ramón Guzmán, mayor of the Honduran city of Omoa, declared a state of rebellion in November 1831, raised a Spanish flag in the city, and sent ships to Cuba to ask for support from conservative archbishop Ramón Casaus y Torres (exiled by Morazán in 1829). This was followed by a second conservative invasion force, led by Colonel Vicente Domínguez, that entered Central America from British Honduras and supported Guzmán's rebellion and invaded inland Honduras. The Honduran cities of Opoteca and Trujillo also declared themselves in a state of rebellion. José María Cornejo, the conservative governor of El Salvador, supported Arce's invasion and declared El Salvador's secession from the federal republic on 7 January 1832.

Second civil war and dissolution

On 30 May 1838, the Federal Congress convened and declared that each of the federal republic's five states was free to establish any form of republican government. Nicaragua seceded from the Federal Republic of Central America on 30 April 1838. Honduras did the same on 26 October, followed by Costa Rica on 15 November. On 2 February 1839, all of Central America's federally elected government officials (including Morazán) left office. They had no successors, since no federal election was held. On 17 April, Guatemalan President Rafael Carrera issued a decree dissolving the Federal Republic of Central America; the Federal Congress accepted his decree on 14 July. On 30 January 1841, El Salvador declared independence from the Federal Republic of Central America. At the fall of the federal republic, four of its five successor states were led by opponents of federal rule and proponents of their respective states' secession: Braulio Carrillo (Costa Rica), Francisco Malespín (El Salvador), Carrera (Guatemala), and Francisco Ferrera (Honduras).

Government and politics

Federal government

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. The Federal Congress was its bicameral legislative branch. The Chamber of Deputies (the lower house) consisted of 41 deputies allocated across the states, with one deputy per 30,000 people. Each deputy was accompanied by a supplement deputy. Half of the Chamber of Deputies' members were elected annually. The Senate (the upper house) consisted of two senators from each state, for a total of ten senators. The Senate, which first met on 24 April 1825, acted as a de facto executive council that approved legislation passed by the Council of Deputies. An advisory body to the president, it could also review Supreme Court rulings. One-third of the Senate's members were elected every year. The Council of Deputies could override a Senate legislative veto with a two-thirds majority, or a three-fourths majority for tax legislation. From 1824 to 1838, there were a total of 11 congressional terms.

The president led the executive branch. Elected to a four-year term, he was the commander-in-chief of the Federal Army. The president had a cabinet of three secretaries (ministers): the secretary of relations, the secretary of war, and the secretary of the treasury. Article 111 of the federal constitution allowed the president to seek consecutive re-election once, after which he must leave office for at least one term before being eligible for re-election a second time. The president was relatively weak in comparison with other contemporary Latin American presidents, particularly because he could not veto or pocket veto legislation, could not send legislation back to the Federal Congress for reconsideration, and was required to enact all laws passed by the Federal Congress within fifteen days. The authors of the federal constitution sought to oppose a caudillo-like president with dictatorial powers by implementing checks on presidential power to ensure legislative supremacy. Rodrigo Facio Brenes, a 20th-century Costa Rican lawyer and rector of the University of Costa Rica, described the presidency of the Federal Republic of Central America as "merely decorative".

Armed forces

The Federal Republic of Central America found it difficult to maintain its federal army. Before Central American independence, few Central Americans pursued a military career. Guatemalan historian Manuel Montúfar y Coronado wrote that "military influence was unknown in Central America; before Independence, there was no military career" ("el influjo militar fue desconocido en Centro América; antes de la Independencia, no había carrera militar"). The Central American federal army originated as rebel groups who resisted annexation to Mexico in 1822 and 1823, and was not formally established as a political entity until 1829.

Although the president was commander-in-chief of the federal army, only the Federal Congress had the authority to raise and maintain armies and to declare war and peace. In July 1823, the Central American federal army had 10,000 soldiers. The legislature increased the size of the federal army to 11,800 soldiers in December of that year, organized into two light battalions, two squadrons, and one artillery brigade. The federal army established defensive garrisons along the Caribbean coast in case Spain attempted to reassert control of the region. George Alexander Thompson, a British diplomat who visited Central America in 1825, said that the federal army would only have been able to resist a Spanish invasion with guerrilla warfare.

By the end of 1829, the Central American federal army (now called the Protective Allied Army of the Law) totaled 4,000 soldiers. That year, the Federal Congress reduced the maximum size of the federal army to 2,000 soldiers due to general distrust by the states of the power and influence of the federal army. Each state was instructed to provide soldiers to the federal army. The federal peacetime army, as established by the Federal Congress in 1829, consisted of three infantry brigades, one artillery brigade, and one cavalry regiment. By 1831, only 800 federal soldiers remained; the state militias had more soldiers and were better funded and equipped. During the 1830s, the federal army's military supremacy over the state militias relied on the discipline of its soldiers and public perception that a caudillo-like figure led the federal army. In 1836, Morazán said that the federal army had been reduced to "a handful of ancient veterans that have survived the greatest dangers" ("un puñado de antiguos veteranos que han sobrevivido a los mayores peligros").

Administrative divisions

The federal republic consisted of five states: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Each state was subdivided into 45 partidos (districts). From 7 February 1835 to 3 May 1839, the Federal District was centered around San Salvador as the national capital. Briefly, from 1838 to 1839, the federal government considered separating Los Altos from Guatemala and elevating it to the status of a state. Although Guatemala claimed Belize as part of its territory, coastal Belize was occupied by the British. Guatemala and Mexico claimed sovereignty over Soconusco, but neither had full control of the region. Portions of Soconusco were effectively independent, but its leaders preferred union with Central America. Central America bordered the Mosquito Coast on the Caribbean, which it claimed as part of its territory. The Federal Republic of Central America covered approximately 200,000 square miles (520,000 km2) and spanned about 900 miles (1,400 km) north to south between the 8th and 18th parallel north.

On 5 May 1824, the National Constituent Assembly ordered each of the federal republic's five states to draft a constitution and install state-level legislative, executive, and judicial branches similar to those of the federal government. Each state could elect legislators, a governor, and judicial officials in indirect elections. Like the Senate at the federal level, each state's Senate was an executive council which advised the state governor. All the states drafted and ratified their constitutions by April 1826. The federal constitution recognized each state government as "free and independent" ("libre e independiente"), and the state governments could administer internal affairs not mandated for the federal government by the federal constitution.

Political factions

The two major political factions of the Federal Republic of Central America were the liberals (also known as fiebres) and the conservatives (also known as serviles). The factions were not organized political parties. Liberals and conservatives saw each other as enemies, accusing each other of "demagoguery, disorganization, and anarchism" ("demagogia, desorganización y anarquismo").

Liberals supported a federal government and the devolution of power to the country's states, considering the centralized colonial government inherently defective and radical change necessary. They attempted to implement freedom of religion in 1823. Resistance from the predominantly-Catholic population prevented implementation of the reform, however, and Catholicism was established as the country's official religion. In 1825, an executive decree required all Catholic clergymen in the country to swear an oath of allegiance to the federal republic. The clergy opposed the decree, seeing it as diminishing the power of the Catholic Church. Liberals also supported laissez-faire economic policies, free trade, and foreign immigration in an effort to improve the economy. They were primarily supported by the upper middle class and intellectuals.

Conservatives supported centralizing power around the national government, believing that the colonial centralized government structure before independence was preferable to a new system of government (federalism) which might be a burden on society. They supported protectionist economic policies and defended the role of the Catholic Church in Central American society as an arbiter of morality which preserved the status quo. The conservatives viewed Protestantism as inferior to Catholicism, and believed that the country's indigenous population should be subservient to the ruling white and mestizo population. They primarily received support from wealthy landowners, established colonial-era families, and the clergy.

Foreign relations

The federal republic sent diplomats to Gran Colombia, France, the Holy See, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, and received diplomats from Chile, France, Gran Colombia, Hanover, Mexico, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Mexico recognized Central American independence in August 1823. On 15 March 1825, federal diplomats signed a treaty with Gran Colombia ensuring the existence of a "perpetual confederation" ("confederación perpetua") between the countries; the treaty was ratified on 12 September. Although France, the Holy See, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom sent diplomats to the Federal Republic of Central America, they recognized Central America's independence only after the federal government had collapsed in the late 1830s.

The United States recognized the independence of the Federal Republic of Central America from Spain on 4 August 1824 when U.S. President James Monroe received Cañas as Central America's envoy to the United States. The two countries signed the Treaty of Peace, Amity, Commerce, and Navigation on 5 December 1825. On 3 May 1826, Central America received U.S. Chargé d'Affaires John Williams in Guatemala City. William S. Murphy was the last U.S. diplomat assigned to Central America; he left his post in March 1842 after the federal republic had collapsed.

On 16 June 1825, the Federal Congress passed a law approving construction of a canal in Nicaragua to connect the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. The congress approved a contract with the government of the Netherlands to develop the canal project in October 1830, but the Dutch government canceled the contract the following year due to the Belgian Revolution. The Nicaraguan government asked the federal government in 1833 and 1838 to build a canal, but the federal government took no action on either request.

National symbols

While resisting the Mexican attempt to annex Central America in 1822, Arce's forces waved a horizontal blue, white, and blue triband inspired by the flag of Argentina. The flag of the Federal Republic of Central America, adopted on 21 August 1823, was based on Arce's 1822 design. The adopted flag retained the blue, white, and blue horizontal triband design, with the country's coat of arms in the center. The federal republic's coat of arms was an equilateral triangle; within the triangle were a rainbow at the top, a Phrygian cap with beams of light emanating from it in the center, and five rounded volcanoes surrounded by two oceans (the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans) at the bottom. Surrounding the triangle was an oval with the name of the country within it.

The federal republic's national anthem was "La Granadera", written by Rómulo E. Durón. Its national motto – "God, Union, Liberty" ("Dios, Unión, Libertad") – was adopted on 4 August 1823, replacing the motto "God keep you many years" ("Dios guarde a Ud. muchos años") in use before independence.

Demographics

Population

In 1824, Central America had a population of 1,287,491. By 1836, it had an estimated population of 1,900,000; the estimate, by federal administrator Juan Galindo, "largely over-estimated" the number of whites and excluded Honduras' indigenous population. Central America was the most densely populated country in the Americas. Its population was unevenly distributed across the states, with over half in Guatemala in 1824. The constitution granted political representation in the Federal Congress in proportion to population, so the population imbalance gave Guatemala greater representation in the legislature than the other states.

Ethnic composition

Central America was not ethnically homogenous. In 1824, 65 percent of the population was indigenous, 31 percent was mixed (Ladino or mestizo), and four percent was white (Spanish or criollo). There was a small population of Blacks, and Galindo described the black population in 1836 as "too inconsiderable to be taken into consideration". Ethnic composition varied throughout the Central American states. In 1824, up to 70 percent of Guatemala's population was indigenous; El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua were almost entirely composed of mestizos, and Costa Rica self-reported that it was 80 percent white.

Central America's white and mixed population primarily spoke Spanish, and the majority indigenous population spoke their indigenous languages. Most Central Americans in the federal republic were illiterate, and the federal and state governments lacked the funding to invest in schools. Morazán established universities in San Salvador and León in the early 1830s, although they lacked funding and professors.

Religion

Catholicism was the largest and the official religion of the Federal Republic of Central America. Initially, Catholicism was the only religion that could be practiced publicly. Public worship as part of any other religion was prohibited until May 1832, when the Federal Congress issued a decree permitting public practice of any religion (a right reinforced by an 1835 constitutional amendment). The Catholic Church influenced Central American politics, but the president and any Supreme Court justice were not allowed to be members of the clergy; only one of each state's two senators could be a clergyman. Papal bulls issued by the pope to Central America had to be approved by the Federal Congress before they became effective.

Cities

In 1836, twenty-nine settlements were designated as cities in Central America.

Economy

Currency

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. Escudos were struck in gold in denominations of 1⁄2, 1, 2, 4, and 8; pesos were struck in gold in denominations of 1 and 2; reales were struck in silver in denominations of 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1, 2, and 8. The coins were minted in Guatemala City, San José, and Tegucigalpa.

Problems

Thomas L. Karnes, a history professor at Arizona State University, described the Federal Republic of Central America's economy as "chaotic". The federal republic constantly struggled to have enough money to finance its governmental obligations. In 1826, Williams wrote to United States Secretary of State Henry Clay that Central America's economic situation was "most unpromising". Robert S. Smith, an economics professor at Duke University, described the federal treasury as "chronically empty". When Arce assumed the presidency in 1825, the treasury contained only 600 pesos.

Under Spanish colonial rule, Central America's economy was reliant on agriculture because the region lacked abundant natural resources; the Federal Republic of Central America continued to rely on an agricultural economy. The federal republic's largest source of income was the export of lumber products, indigo, cochineal, bananas, coffee, cacao, and (especially) tobacco; tobacco exports generated 200,000 to 300,000 pesos of income annually. Although agricultural exports provided the federal republic with much of its income, it was still reliant on foreign loans to finance everyday governance. Many of these foreign loans were granted at greatly discounted rates, but still fell into default. The federal government defaulted on its foreign debt, which totaled GB£163,300 (equivalent to US$15,351,507 in 2025), in 1828. In October 1823, the National Constituent Assembly had pledged to pay off the country's internal debt (a total of 3,583,576 pesos); by February 1831, however, the debt had increased to 4,768,966 pesos.

Infrastructure between and within the federal republic's states was poor due to Central America's large areas of dense forest and mountainous terrain. Indigenous slaves had built and maintained Central America's road network, but construction and maintenance of the roads nearly ended when slavery was abolished on 17 April 1824 by federal decree. Degradation of the country's infrastructure reduced interstate commerce and industry. Outbreaks of leprosy, smallpox, and typhoid fever also hindered labor productivity.

Guatemala's economy was the strongest of the five states, financing most of the federal government's civil and military expenses; some states contributed to the federal government only intermittently due to strained economic conditions. Guatemala was responsible for paying almost half of the federal republic's foreign debt until the 1828 default.

Legacy

Historical assessment

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. Liberal Guatemalan politician Lorenzo Montúfar said that in "adopting the federal system, [the federal republic] obtained for result, wars, and disasters". Nicaraguan journalist Pedro Joaquín Chamorro wrote that attempting to emulate the United States' federalism created divisions between Central America's states where a centralized government would have succeeded. According to El Salvador's Ministry of Education, the federal constitution was a "fatal conclusion that led to anarchy and disorganization" ("conclusión fatal que llevó la anarquía y la desorganización"). University of Massachusetts research scholar Lynn V. Foster described the federal republic during the 1820s as "more like a loose confederation of small independent nations than a single republic" due to the great amount of power and influence wielded by local officials in their states compared to the federal government. Guillermo Vázquez Vicente, an economics professor at King Juan Carlos University, wrote that achieving the constitution's ideals for the federal republic was "impossible" ("imposible") without a coherent political, economic, and social plan. He cited the failure to reach the constitution's republican ideals and separatist sentiment in the five states as an "insurmountable impediment" ("impedimento insalvable") to achieving national unity.

Other experts disagree that the constitution, or federalism, were the primary cause of the Federal Republic of Central America's collapse. Franklin D. Parker, a history professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, said that the federal republic's political leaders' failure to abide by and enforce the constitution's provisions ultimately resulted in its collapse. Liberal Central American historian Alejandro Marure attributed "all of the misfortunes which the nation suffered" to Arce's attempts to appease both liberals and conservatives during the 1820s. Honduran lawyer and politician Ramón Rosa wrote in his biography of Valle that Morazán's 1835 re-election brought "the ruin of the Central American Republic" ("la ruina de la República centroamericana"), saying that Morazán's use of military force to settle disputes instead of compromising undermined the federal government. Nicaraguan writer Salvador Mendieta said that a primary cause of the federal republic's collapse was a lack of efficient communication infrastructure between and within the states. Philip F. Flemion, a history professor at San Diego State University, attributed the collapse of the federal republic to "regional jealousies, social and cultural differences, inadequate communication and transportation systems, limited financial resources, and disparate political views". Smith noted the federal republic's "financial maladministration" and "abortive economic development" as playing at least a small role in its collapse.

Reunification attempts

As early as 1842, some Central Americans sought to reunite the region. Several attempts have been made at reunification by diplomacy or force during the 19th and 20th centuries, but none lasted longer than a few months or involved all five former members of the Federal Republic of Central America. According to Guatemalan historian Julio César Pinto Soria, Central America has failed to achieve reunification primarily due to the power of oligarchs in the federal republic's former states who see reunification as an impediment to their goals.

Delegations from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua proclaimed Antonio José Cañas the president of a new federal government on 17 March 1842, but the governments of Costa Rica and Guatemala did not recognize the proclamation. Cañas' government ended in 1844, when El Salvador and Honduras invaded Nicaragua for granting asylum to Salvadoran and Honduran political exiles. Francisco Morazán also tried to reunite Central America by force in 1842 when he became the political leader of Costa Rica. After leading an invasion of Nicaragua, he was defeated, deposed, and executed by firing squad on 15 September of that year.

In 1848, delegates from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua met in Tegucigalpa to draft a new constitution for Central America. Further meetings were held the following year in León, during which the delegations signed a treaty to elect a Central American president, vice president, and national legislature. The Central American legislature declared the establishment of a Central American union on 9 October 1852, but resistance from the Nicaraguan Legitimist Party and the outbreak of civil war in Nicaragua led to the union's failure by 1854. Neither El Salvador nor Nicaragua ratified the union's constitution.

In 1876, Guatemalan president Justo Rufino Barrios called for all five former members of the Federal Republic of Central America to send delegations to Guatemala City to negotiate the restoration of a united Central American country, but Barrios' invasion of El Salvador later that year ended the planned negotiations. On 28 February 1885, Barrios declared the establishment of the Central America Federation and proclaimed himself as its president. Honduras accepted Barrios' declaration, but Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Nicaragua rejected it. Barrios invaded El Salvador on 29 March 1885 to force it to join the Central American Union, and was killed during the Battle of Chalchuapa on 2 April. Guatemalan forces withdrew from El Salvador, ending Barrios' attempt to reunite Central America.