Justo Arosemena Quesada (August 9, 1817 – February 23, 1896) was a
statesman
A statesman or stateswoman is a politician or a leader in an organization who has had a long and respected career at the national or international level, or in a given field.
Statesman or statesmen may also refer to:
Newspapers United States
...
, writer, lawyer and politician from what is now
Panama
Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...
who lived during the period of union with
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...
. He dedicated his life to the cause of the autonomy of the
Isthmus of Panama
The Isthmus of Panama, historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean, linking North America, North and South America. The country of Panama is located on the i ...
in and as a part of Colombia, and is regarded as "the most illustrious of the Panamanian and father of Panamanian nationality."
Biography
Arosemena was born in
Panama City
Panama City, also known as Panama, is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has a total population of 1,086,990, with over 2,100,000 in its metropolitan area. The city is located at the Pacific Ocean, Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, i ...
, the son of Dolores de Quesada and
Mariano Arosemena
Mariano Arosemena de la Barrera (Panama; — Lima; ) was neoclassical writer, journalist and politician who lived in the Isthmus of Panama when it was part of Gran Colombia. Arosemena married Dolores de Quesada y Velarde with whom he had his so ...
, a national hero during the independence of Panama from Spain in 1821. He attended elementary school in Panama, and when he was 16 years old, he graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
from the
College of San Bartolomé in
Bogotá
Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...
. Later, he graduated in law at the
Universidad Central de Bogota. Between 1837 and 1839 he received his doctorate in law at the
Universidad del Magdalena. He also conducted studies in the field of
sociology
Sociology is the scientific study of human society that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. The term sociol ...
.
He was elected deputy to the
Provincial House of Panama (1850–1851), and subsequently as a representative to the
National Congress of Colombia (1852–1853). As a statesman, he strongly supported both a respect for human rights and a greater autonomy for the Isthmus of Panama in Colombia. For this reason, the federal state of Panama was created, and he was elected as its first president in 1855. He resigned his position a few months later.
left, Justo Arosemena Quesada is featured on a Postage stamps and postal history of the Canal Zone, Panama Stamp, issued in 1906
By 1863 he was president of the
National Convention of Rio Negro, in which Colombia became a confederation of sovereign states, among them Panama. Since 1865, he was involved in diplomacy, was representative of Panama in
Washington D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
for several years, Ambassador of Panama in Chile, Colombia Minister Resident in the United Kingdom, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the United Kingdom and France (1872), and intermediary in settling the border between Colombia and Venezuela (1880).
In 1868 he was responsible for negotiating the conditions in which Colombia allowed the United States the excavation of a canal in the Isthmus of Panama. He was also a lawyer consultant to the
Panama Railroad Company (1888).
In 1878, with the help of the educator José Manuel Hurtado and politician Buenaventura Correoso, he prompted the founding of the first public library in Panama, for which he donated more than 60 volumes related to history and law. In 1886, with the promulgation of the Constitution of Panama, he withdrew himself from public life and he is dedicated to the legal profession until his death in the city of
Colón, at the age of 78.
His legacy as a jurist was recognized posthumously when the headquarters of the National Assembly of Panama was named after him.
Work
Justo Arosemena wrote a series of
essays
An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
that frame his work as a lawyer and sociologist. The most significant of all is "The Federal State of Panama", where he describes the Panamanian history and its nationality, stressing the importance of the isthmus of Panama to become an independent country and describing various geographical, historical and social arguments for the creation of a Panamanian federal state within the confederation of Nueva Granada. In 1855 these ideas were jelled with the creation of the Federal State of Panama. This essay is considered the most comprehensive study on the Panamanian nationality in the 19th century.
[Biography of Justo Arosemena - Panama Canal Authority]
As a member of the Congress of
Nueva Granada (1850) and as senator of Istmo de Panamá (1853), he authored many legal codifications and was instrumental in bringing about the autonomy of the Colombian federal state of Panama. His extensive drafts of legal codifications, the so-called ''Proyectos Arosemena'', were to become the basis of Panamanian and Colombian legislation in the second half of the 19th century.
Essays by Arosemena
* Aim for the Introduction to the Moral and Political Sciences (1840)
* Consideration on the Frank Communication Between the Oceans (1846)
* Principles of Moral Politics (1849)
* Moral Code Based on the Nature of Man (1860)
* Studies on the Idea of an American League (1864)
* Political Constitutions in South America (1870)
* Constitutional Studies (1878)
* The Institution of Marriage in the United Kingdom (1879)
* The Marriage Before the Law
References
* Tello Burgos, Algeria. Written by Justo Arosemena. University of Panama, 1985, p. 327-382
*
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arosemena, Justo
1817 births
1896 deaths
Colombian politicians
People from the Republic of New Granada
People from Panama City
Colombian historians