Expropriation of church properties in Colombia. The accounting of the Agencia General de Bienes Desamortizados (1861 -1888)

Abstract

The expropriation of Church properties that started in Spain and France during the Enlightenment also took place in Latin America. It showed there different phases and nuances in the mid-nineteenth century and was a process with significant implications for the evolution and nature of some Colombian's political and economic institutions.

For three decades, from 1861 to 1888, properties and rights of the Catholic church and other corporations were expropriated and transferred to private people and also occasionally to the new State. It was weighed down by financial difficulties resulting from the public debt, the precarious fiscal organization and the scarce regional development.

The expropriation was established by a presidential decree under the second mandate of General Tomás Cipriano de Mosquera. It involved the need to create an organism entrusted with the implementation of the adopted measures. During the high period the expropriation this function was performed by the Agencia General de Bienes Desamortizados. When the decline came the task was passed to the Secretaría del Tesoro (Treasury Department).

The accounting of the expropriation process was to be kept by double entry with the Journal and Ledger containing all details of the operations, such us a rigorous explanation of the items, the corresponding dates, etc.

The implementation of this accounting method was meticulously ruled by a series of regulations setting the administrative procedures to draw up the inventory, to value the assets, to carry out the auctions and to process the claims with the pertinent written support.

This paper aims to describe the accounting system kept to record the expropriation of the Church territories on the basis of primary and secondary sources. The subject will be studied together with other historical events, which form the context within which functioned governmental accounting in Colombia and Latin America.