Abstract

ARCHONDO, Rafael José. Walker for president: yes, but from Nicaragua. A date with southern imperialism and slavery. Latinoamérica [online]. 2025, n.81, pp.69-90.  Epub Oct 27, 2025. ISSN 2448-6914.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cialc.24486914e.2025.81.57823.

ABSTRACT: in 1856, Nicaragua had a president born in Tennessee, United States. William Walker had to declare himself a Catholic in order to take the oath of office in a country where he had arrived a year earlier. This article analyzes this event based on Anglo-Saxon bibliographic sources. It concludes with a new concept: the existence of a “southern imperialism” or “slaveholding”, linked to the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, as opposed to the Monroe Doctrine. Walker represented the former, which is why he had to face not only the spontaneous Central American resistance, but also the adverse stance of his compatriot, the businessman Cornelius Vanderbilt. In the end, a broad coalition of governments in the region together with the White House precipitated Walker's firing squad. For the United States, the conflict over Nicaragua would be the preamble to its own civil war.

Keywords : Filibusterism; National Central American War; Monroe Doctrine; Manifest Destiny; William Walker.

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