New Granada's Liberals had changed the name of the country from Granadine Confederation (as in the 1858 constitution) to United States of New Granada (Estados Unidos de Nueva Granada) in 1861, during the last stage of the civil war.

This action is followed by the adoption, in 1863, of another constitution that restores the name Colombia (more specifically Estados Unidos de Colombia, 1863-86) and takes federalism to remarkable extremes.

The new charter divides the nation into nine states, which can exercise any functions not expressly reserved to the central authorities.

They can raise their own militias and, if they see fit, issue their own postage stamps.

They alone determine who has the right to vote, and more than half will use this authority to retreat from the recent universal male suffrage, which had not worked out wholly to the Liberals' satisfaction.

The constitution can be amended only by unanimous consent of all states, and the national president is elected on a basis of one vote, one state, for a period of only two years with no possibility of immediate reelection.

This weakening of the presidential office results not just from theoretical considerations but also from the Liberals' real distrust of their current leader, Mosquera, whose undoubted ability is accompanied by a certain tendency toward megalomania.

The extreme frequency of elections under New Granada's 1853 constitution, held at different times for all sorts of local and national offices, contributes to the early consolidation of party affiliations.

And although the constitution does not introduce outright federalism, it is soon being amended to transform specific parts of the country into "states" with substantial powers of self-government.

Panama, which has never felt much affinity with the rest of New Granada, is the first to receive such status, but other sections demand and achieve the same, until in 1858 the ambiguous nature of the country's administration is tidied up by adoption of the first frankly federalist constitution.

It is adopted during the Conservative administration of Ospina, whose party has been gradually warming to the idea of federalism, among other reasons because it seemingly guarantees the Conservatives control of regions where they are strongest, regardless of who holds power in Bogotá.

However, before long the Liberals accuse Ospina of failing to faithfully observe the new system and rise up in what will be the nation's only full-fledged civil war (as distinct from civil or military coup) to succeed in toppling a government.

The war lasts from 1859 to 1862, and when it is over the provisional head of state is General Mosquera, now fully transformed into paladin of the Liberal cause.

...Bolívar join it; civil war erupts.

The southern state of Cauca secedes from New Granada (modern-day Colombia) in protest at the suggestion of increase of presidential powers on May 8, 1860; ...

...Magdalena and ...

In an unexpected act, Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera captures Bogotá on June 18, 1861, declares himself president of the provisional government, and arrests Ospina Rodríguez, his brother Pastor Ospina, and Bartolomé Calvo, the newly elected president of the confederacy.

Rebel troops of the southern states in the Granadine Confederation (present-day Colombia), defeat government forces on October 25, 1862.

The Colombian Civil War ends in November 1862 when the last leaders of the conservative opposition die or give up.