page_title: Liberal State
section_title: Development of the Liberal State 1870 - 1929
hierarchical_section_title: Liberal State / Development of the Liberal State 1870 - 1929
caption_attribution_description: Español: Fotografía histórica de la Inauguración del Monumento Nacional de Costa Rica el 15 de setiembre de 1895.
context_page_description: The Liberal State is the historical period in Costa Rica that occurred approximately between 1870 and 1940. It responded to the hegemonic dominion in the political, ideological and economic aspects of liberal philosophy. It is considered a period of transcendental importance in Costa Rican history, as it's when the consolidation of the National State and its institutions finally takes place.
  The arrival of the Liberals in power meant a profound change that affected all the essential aspects of Costa Rican politics, economy, society and culture.
  During this stage of national history, the development of a capitalist economy based on an agro-export model allowed Costa Rica its insertion in the world market and the generation of the necessary resources to develop its institutions and create infrastructure works, being the most significant the railroad to the Atlantic. The consolidation of coffee exports first, in the mid and late nineteenth century, and later those of banana, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as engines of national development, will generate a series of cultural changes that will give the Costa Rican nation much of its current physiognomy.
context_section_description: In 1870, Jesús Jiménez Zamora was overthrown by Tomás Guardia Gutiérrez, who called a new National Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution in 1871, this being the longest running carta magna in the history of the country until 1949. Guardia abolished the death penalty, the torture and set the presidential term in four years.
  In 1876 Aniceto Esquivel Sáenz was elected, with Guardia as head of the army and always having control of the country, taking power again in 1880. Guardia led a tough but progressive government. The concession for the construction of the first railway to the Atlantic began, commissioned to the American engineer Minor Cooper Keith, which ultimately also unleashed the exploitation of bananas as an export resource. At this time the first massive immigrations of Italian, Jamaicans and Chinese to work in the construction of the railroad begin. Guardia died in office and was succeeded by Próspero Fernández Oreamuno, who prepared the country for an eventual war against the intentions of Guatemalan General Justo Rufino Barrios, to reunify Central America by force, but with the death of Barrios war was avoided. In his government new civil, military and fiscal codes were drafted. Fernandez also expelled from the country, in 1884, the Jesuits, together with Bishop Bernardo Augusto Thiel, accusing the clergy of having political interference.
  Upon the death of Fernandez in office, the government passed to Bernardo Soto Alfaro, who dedicated his management to the cultural and material development of the country. During his government, the work of Mauro Fernández Acuña, who founded the Normal School for teacher training, signed the General Law of Common Education, which expanded secondary education, as well as the foundation of the Liceo de Costa Rica, the Institute of Alajuela and the Superior School of Ladies between 1887 and 1888, and the closure of the University of Santo Tomás. In 1887, the National Museum of Costa Rica was created. During this decade, also, the national telephone service was inaugurated. In 1888, civil marriage and divorce were introduced, as well as the secularization of cemeteries.
  During the government of Soto, the Red Cross was established in the country and the national lottery was created to finance hospitals. After the elections of 1889, the government of Soto tried to ignore the result that gave the victory, overwhelmingly, to José Joaquín Rodríguez Zeledón. On November 7 of that year, the entire population, under the leadership of Rafael Yglesias Castro, rose up in favor of Rodríguez's electoral triumph in the first civic and popular day of Costa Rican history, so that day is remembered as the Day of the Costa Rican Democracy. Soto preferred to depart from power rather than repress the population, handing over the government to Dr. Carlos Durán Cartín, first appointed, who six months later gave the government to Rodriguez.
  The government of Rodríguez Zeledón was characterized by arbitrary actions in the exercise of its functions. During his government the monument to Juan Santamaría (1891) was inaugurated. He was succeeded by Rafael Yglesias Castro, whose administration was dynamic and progressive. In its management, the National Monument of Costa Rica (1895), the School of Fine Arts and the National Theater (1897) were inaugurated, the Gold Standard was implanted, the construction of the railroad to the Pacific began and many other works of progress were made. In 1899, the transnational company United Fruit Company was founded, which came to control the production and export of bananas during the following century, and whose presence was the trigger for important social movements in the 20th century.
  During the second period of Rafael Yglesias, in 1900, the tramway was inaugurated in San José, the first Costa Rican novels were published (El Moto and Las Hijas del Campo, by Joaquín García Monge) and the first car was introduced, property of Enrique Carranza . In 1902, Yglesias was succeeded by Ascensión Esquivel Ibarra, whose government was austere and with a severe saving. 
caption: National Monument's inauguration in 1895.
exif: {}