Calderón was born in Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Boyacá Department, on August 23, 1852, in what was then the Republic of New Granada.

After finishing school in his native city, he attended Our Lady of the Rosary University in Bogotá, where he graduated with a Doctorate in Jurisprudence, where he also worked as professor of Civil and Penal law.

[2] Calderón started his political ascend in Boyacá where he was judge in the Circuit court of Tunja, deputy in the Legislative Assembly, and Director of Education during the administration of José Eusebio Otálora.

Calderón also worked as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Colombian Consul general and Plenipotentiary to the United States.

[5] After his short presidency, Calderón became an important Colombian diplomat, serving for nearly twenty years in the United States first as Consul General of Colombia to New York[6] and subsequently as Colombian Minister to Washington,[7] and was named Minister of Foreign Affairs by President Rafael Reyes on October 27, 1904.