The concept of freedom in Félix Varela's liberal constitutionalism

Raúl Escalona Abella

SAP Southern Studies, 2025

Abstract: This paper examines the conception of freedom in the liberal constitutionalist thought of Félix Varela during the Spanish Liberal Triennium (1820-1823). Set against the backdrop of Cuba's socio-economic shift towards a slave-based plantation system, the study highlights how Varela, from his Chair of Constitutional Law, articulated a radical idea of freedom. Grounded in elective philosophy and enlightened naturalism, he asserted freedom as a natural and inalienable right of all individuals. Varela argued that sovereignty resides essentially in the nation, not the monarch, and linked individual liberty to national sovereignty, maintaining that without a constitution there is no freedom, and without freedom there is no homeland. His thought, which foreshadowed anti-slavery sentiments and a project for a Cuban nation, distanced itself from the interests of the slave-owning bourgeoisie and laid the groundwork for subsequent Cuban independence ideology.

Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cwf:ssarti:ss202526

DOI: 10.62486/ss202526

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