[2] He would maintain the position until 1853, with Obando as president, when he decided to move to Bogotá to become a member of the Colombian Congress, and where he made a name for himself by fighting the federalist and socialist ideas of Manuel Murillo Toro.

After participating briefly in the Convention of Ríonegro which would produce the Constitution of Rionegro as a representative of the state of Panama, he decided to leave the country in 1863.

Opposing the conservative and centralist tendencies in Núñez proposal, liberal leaders issued yet another civil war in 1884 and 1885.

Following this military victory, on September 10, 1885, Núñez summoned two representatives from each of the sovereign states to initiate the Constituent Assembly, which was installed on November 11 of the same year.

The constitutional reform of 1886, carried out with the collaboration of Miguel Antonio Caro, was possibly the most outstanding political feat of Núñez.

This Colombian Constitution of 1886, with some later modifications, was in effect until the proclamation of a new one in 1991, and in addition to reestablishing a strong Centralist form of government, changing the name of the country from the United States of Colombia to that of Republic of Colombia, it also reestablished the links with the Vatican, and made Catholicism the official religion, leaving education in the hands of the Catholic church.

Rather, his vice-president, Miguel Antonio Caro was sworn in as the de facto president for the presidential term of 1892-1898.

[5] While his contact with the central government was thus only indirect, Núñez remained an important political figure, and his letters and columns and essays were very influential.

His health continued worsening and he finally died on September 18, 1894, following a fever that left him in bed and speechless for a couple of days.

[8] Núñez is mentioned in Gabriel García Márquez's 1985 novel, Love in the Time of Cholera (Amor en los tiempos del cólera).