page_title: Constitution of Costa Rica
section_title: Constituent Assemblies from 1838 to 1870
hierarchical_section_title: Constitution of Costa Rica / History / Constituent Assemblies from 1838 to 1870
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover Constitución Política de Costa Rica de 1869
context_page_description: The Constitution of Costa Rica is the supreme law of Costa Rica. At the end of the 1948 Costa Rican Civil War, José Figueres Ferrer oversaw the Costa Rican Constitutional Assembly, which drafted the document. It was approved on 1949 November 7. Several older constitutions had been in effect starting from 1812, with the most recent former constitution ratified in 1871. The Costa Rican Constitution is remarkable in that in its Article 12 abolished the Costa Rican military, making it the second nation after Japan to do so by law. Another unusual clause is an amendment asserting the right to live in a healthy natural environment.
context_section_description: From 1838 to 1870, a large number of Constituent Assemblies with a greater or lesser degree of effectiveness, independence or legislative power were raised. As is the custom in Costa Rica, after a rupture of the constitutional order that defenestrates a government, a Constituent Assembly was convened. It legitimized the new government (a custom that was maintained in 1871, 1917 and 1949). During the very unstable second half of the nineteenth century in which there were many coups d'état, the Constitutions proliferated as much as the coups, as well as their Assemblies.
  Braulio Carrillo assumes power in Costa Rica as a dictator in 1838 and calls a Constituent Assembly that is suspended indefinitely. Carrillo issues by decree the Law of Bases and Guarantees that operates as a de facto Constitution.
  In April 1842 General Francisco Morazán took power in Costa Rica by overthrowing Carrillo and calling a Constituent Assembly in June. This would also have legislative powers, even though they are not specific to a Constituent Power.
  Ousted Morazán and elected interim president José María Alfaro, on April 5, 1843, he convened a Constituent Assembly that was officially established on June 1. This Constituent Assembly would be the second last to assume legislative powers, although it was mostly reduced to ratification of Alfaro's decrees. He drafted the Constitution of 1844, which would leave unhappy the military hierarchy that would overthrow the then ruler, Antonio Pinto Soares who would return power to Alfaro on June 7, 1846.
  He reconvenes a Constituent Assembly that would function until 1847, issuing the Constitution of that year. Which would be reformed, again via Constituent, in 1848.
  Being president José María Montealegre Fernández operated a Constituent Assembly from October 16 to December 26, 1859, which drafted the respective Constitution. The provisional governor José María Montealegre Fernández was elected as constitutional President for the period 1860-1863. For the triennium 1863-1866, Jesús Jiménez Zamora was elected, and within a few months of being in power he dissolved the Congress, although elections were quickly called to appoint a new one. Jimenez's successor was José María Castro Madriz, elected to the period 1866-1869; but Castro's desire to be succeeded by his Secretary of State Julián Volio Llorente provoked great opposition in certain political and military circles. On November 1, 1868, a military coup overthrew the government and broke the constitutional order again. The part of the Constitution of 1859 referred to the Executive Branch was again in effect for a brief period, from August to October 1870
  In 1868, Jesús Jiménez Zamora overthrew José María Castro Madriz, convoking a constituent on November 15 of that year and legislating by decree authoritatively. The Assembly begins functions on January 1, 1869 and based on the Constitution of 1859, would issue on 18 February the Constitution of 1869, which would have an ephemeral duration then, overthrown Jiménez by Tomás Guardia and elected provisional president Bruno Carranza, he convenes a constituent in 1870 that accepts the resignation. The differences between this Assembly and the de facto president Tomás Guardia lead to the abolition of this by Guardia and the convening of a new Assembly in 1871 that drafted the Constitution of that year and the one with the longest duration in history, as it would last (except brief interruptions) until 1949.
caption: 1869 Constitution
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