More Than “A Question of Tariffs”: the Extraordinary Bolivian Congress of 1847 in the Face of War With Peru

Abstract

The dispute between the executive and legislative powers, regarding the depositaries of popular sovereignty and the limits of its exercise, is discussed through a conflict, the tariff war between Bolivia and Peru in 1846—1847, and a convention, the Bolivian Extraordinary Congress of 1847. Through the rhetorical constructions of an external enemy and an internal enemy, the way in which the legislature assumed and managed the war solution is addressed, with emphasis on the nature of the discussions and the political organization of dissent. The legislative action revealed the contrast between two public concerns, order and freedom, in a climate of Pan-Americanism, contrary to the war of usurpation and conquest as a response to conflicts between nations.