José María Melo rules New Granada for…

José María Melo rules New Granada for only about eight months, with the support of one faction of Liberals and of the artisans, who are particularly enthusiastic in his defense.

Opposition comes in the form of an alliance of Liberal and Conservative leaders, whose banner is the defense of constitutional legality but who at the same time rally together in fear of the threat to social order posed by Melo's artisan allies.

This partnership of ruling groups against their social inferiors will be cited repeatedly in the future, as a precedent for putative alliances of elite Liberals and Conservatives to thwart social change.

By December 4, 1854, Melo's mild dictatorship has been defeated.

Now, instead of restoring Obando, whom they distrust, the victors form a coalition government in which Conservatives increasingly gain the upper hand.

When the next presidential election is held in 1856— the first to be decided by universal male suffrage—it is won by a civilian Conservative, Mariano Ospina Rodriguez (president, 1857-61).

He defeats both the Liberal Party candidate and former President Mosquera, who renounces his previous associates to run as candidate of an improvised National Party that will soon be absorbed by the Liberal Party.