During the administration of President Mariano Ospina Rodríguez, Sanclemente was appointed Secretary of Government and Minister of War, a position that he would hold between April 1, 1857, and July 18, 1861.

Thus, on November 3, Sanclemente expressed that if the House would not assemble with the Senate in a joint session of Congress, he would take his oath before the Supreme Court, as he did.

Defending the government were the conservative generals Ramón González Valencia, Alfredo Vásquez Cobo, Jorge Holguín and Pedro Nel Ospina.

The civil war lasted for three years, until November 1902, and left thousands dead, millions in monetary losses and a profound resentment among the people.

President Sanclemente was of old age, in bad health and not fully fit to govern the country in the middle of a devastating civil war.

While Sanclemente was resting in his summer retreat, in the town of Villeta, a group of influential politicians and highranking military gathered in Bogotá determined to place him under house arrest.