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Kompass

Thinkers and political figures

Painted portrait of Simón Bolívar in military uniform.

Portrait: José Gil de Castro, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

Simón Bolívar

Country
Venezuela and Gran Colombia
Era
1783–1830
Tradition
Republican nationalism

Led the independence of six South American countries from Spain, and concluded late in life that the republics he founded needed stronger executives than he had first believed.

01

Documented positions

Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.

  • Independence from Spain for all of Spanish America, and a federation of the new republics
  • Abolition of slavery, decreed in the territories he liberated
  • Argued the new republics needed a strong executive and a life-term presidency (Angostura Address, 1819)
  • Warned that the region’s inequality and inexperience made pure democracy unworkable there
  • "I have ploughed the sea" — his own late judgement on the failure of Gran Colombia
02

Where it sits on each dimension

Personal liberty

48

Evidence: Documented

Tradition and change

68

Evidence: Well documented

Nation and the world

82

Evidence: Well documented

Power and its limits

34

Evidence: Well documented

Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Wealth and inequality, The state in the economy, Environment and growth, Crime and punishment, Religion and the state

Sources

  • Simón Bolívar, Address to the Congress of Angostura · 1819
  • Simón Bolívar, The Jamaica Letter · 1815

Last verified: