This paper offers an approximation to the economic thought of the Colombian economists of the middle of the 19th century. It takes some of the most influential economists as a reference: Florentino González, Salvador Camacho Roldán, Aníbal Galindo and Miguel Samper. The way in which the free trade doctrine was incorporated in the thought of the Colombian statesmen is analyzed, mainly with regard to the conception of State. The methodology used is a study of the texts and the rhetoric therein. The conclusion is that the political prescriptions of the economic liberalism, which include the promotion of free trade, the theory of comparative advantage in international trade, the rejection of monopolies and the suspicion on the action of government, exerted a partial influence in the foundation of the liberal nineteenth-century project.