Official returns in New Granada's 1856 election…

Official returns in New Granada's 1856 election would suggest that forty percent of adult males participated.

Some of the votes tallied are undoubtedly fraudulent, but the results nevertheless demonstrate the extent to which the population has become aligned with one party or another.

In the case of Conservatives, often the local priest recruits his flock on their behalf; or a local potentate of some sort—a leading landowner or a petty official—might recruit for either side.

But no matter how initial allegiances take shape, they will remain remarkably constant, passed down from generation to generation in such a way that small towns that vote Conservative or Liberal in 1856 are likely to be voting the same way a century later.

Inherited party affiliation likewise generally determines on which side one participates or gives passive support in case of civil war.

Although the reach of the state is limited, the parties blanket the country, instilling in their adherents an instinctive loyalty that easily can trump obedience to a government of the opposite persuasion.