In 1861 the country was enduring a Civil War, the country was now the Granadine Confederation, name given by the Constitution of 1858. The president Mariano Ospina Rodríguez was barely able to control the government. That year, Congress was shut down, and Presidential elections were not held. The Presidential term of Ospina was coming to an end, and according to the Constitution of 1858, in the absence of the designates, which were not elected either, the inspector general would take over the presidency. And on April 1, 1861, Bartolomé Calvo Díaz de Lamadrid became President of the Granadine Confederation as inspector general in charge of the Executive Power.