Democracy and Liberalism in the Intellectual Trajectory of Florentino González, 1805-1874

• In Event: Public Intellectuals, Democracy and Liberalism in the History of Latin America

Abstract

This paper examines Florentino González’s conceptualizations of both liberalism and democracy. Although a native Colombian (born in 1805), González’s life and work have a significant continental dimension: he moved first to Chile in 1859 and then to Argentina a decade later, where he lived until his death in 1875. His work offers us the possibility of examining the extent to which Latin American thinkers managed to reconcile the distinct political traditions of democracy and liberalism. As was the case of many a contemporary, González combined his intellectual pursuits with public office – above all he was minister of finance during the first Mosquera administration in New Granada. He was also a prolific author and translator. In 1840, he published Elementos de ciencia administrativa, a two volume treaty about public administration, a subject he then taught at the university in Bogotá. In Chile, he wrote on Andrés Bello’s civil code and translated John Stuart Mill’s On Representative Government (1864). In Argentina, he also translated the works of two lesser known North American authors: Frederick Grimke (Ciencia y derecho constitucional. Naturaleza y tendencia de las instituciones libres, 1870); and Francis Lieber (La libertad civil y el gobierno propio, 1872). Additionaly, he translated and published a selection of state constitutions of the United States (1870). He authored other works during his Argentine residence, including a track on El Juicio por Jurados, his Lecciones de derecho constitucional, and his memoirs, published in the Revista del Río de la Plata.

Author

• Eduardo Posada-Carbo, St Antony's College, Oxford University