Latin American Revolutions and Beyond
This painting called “Liberators” by Alfredo Zalce shows four important leaders of Latin American independence. The two priests of the left are Father Miguel Hidalgo and Jose de Morelos, two leaders of Mexican independence who were killed in the war against Spain. On their right South American "Liberator" Simon Bolivar shakes hands with Argentinean general Jose de San Martin. The two were responsible for leading South Americans in Spanish colonies to independence.
Part I: On the Eve of Independence
On the eve of independence . . .On the eve of independence . . .
PeninsularPeninsulareses
CreolesCreoles
MestizoMestizoss
MulattMulattosos
Native IndiansNative Indians Black SlavesBlack Slaves
Demographically, Latin America was a multiracial society (much different from Europe). Spain and Portugal controlled ¾’s of the Western Hemisphere, but only a small number of Iberians settled there –the Peninsulares. Together, Peninsulares and Creoles compromised only 2 % of the population and owned nearly all the mines, ranches, plantations, and
(the very few) manufacturing establishments
Demographics, cont’d
• Greatly outnumbering the Peninsulares and Creole elites, the rest of the peoples in the region supplied the forced labor, which was the foundation of the economy: Amerindian peons (peasants in semi-slave status on a hacienda; similar to serfs), mestizos, mulattoes, and black slaves.
• Only in Brazil did black slaves form the majority of the population, but elsewhere in Latin America indigenous peoples and people of mixed ancestry (mulattoes and mestizos) were the most numerous.
• This multiracial atmosphere brought a somewhat more relaxed attitude about race in Latin America than in Europe or in British North America.
Economically, Spain followed mercantilist doctrine and closely regulated its American colonies until well into the 18th c; however, smuggling was rampant as the demand for lower cost manufactured goods persisted. Spain rivaled Great Britain (who had the more powerful navy) as a major European colonial power. On the other hand, the Portuguese were not as rigid mercantilists as the Spanish and allowed foreign merchant ships to Brazilian ports.
Note that mercantilism does not equal laissez-faire!
On the eve of independence . . .
The Roman Catholic Church established its most important responsibility as the conversion of Amerindians. The church controlled all education and reserved it for upper and middle classes who considered it unnecessary and dangerous to educate the masses. Likewise, 90% of the population remained illiterate –including upper class women who were taught exclusively domestic and social skills.
On the eve of independence . . .
Cathedral in the historic district of Guadalajara
Religion
Intellectually, the scientific revolution and the Enlightenment reached Latin America by the late 18th c. Colonial newspapers (with its Creole readership) expressed concern over political abuses and expressed the Enlightenment idea of being willing to challenge traditional authority and belief in reason and social progress.
On the eve of independence . . .
On the eve of independence . . .
• Viceroys represented the king in New Spain (Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America) and Peru (all of Spanish South America) and held great power over local appointments, administration, finance, and the military forces present.
• Most of these important government positions went to Peninsulares, which really agitated the Creoles.
• Like the British North American colonists, the Creoles resented the mercantilist regulations imposed by the Iberian powers and, drawing from Enlightenment political thought, occasionally took part in tax revolts and popular uprisings.
• By the early 18th c, some Creoles began thinking of themselves as Spanish-Americans, rather than as Spaniards (ahem . . . nationalism) and also resented the Peninsulares’ monopoly of political power and aristocratic privilege.
• The Creoles also held contempt for the mestizo middle class (artisans, shopkeepers, merchants, etc) and sought to maintain their power and position.
On the eve of independence . . .
Part II:Latin American Independence . . . a 19th century affair
TRIGGER: The aftershocks of the French Revolution and the era of Napoleon were felt strongly in Latin America…
Influenced by the republican political principles in the U.S and by the reforms of the French Revolution and Napoleon, some Creoles hoped to create comparable liberal institutions in Latin America …at least for the upper classes.
Sketch by Jacques-Louis David of the National Assembly making the Tennis Court Oath
Creoles & Revolution
The Creoles sought to displace the Peninsulares but retain their privileged position in society: political independence without a real revolution.
Some of the more radical leaders of independence movements wanted to disestablish the Roman Catholic Church and tax or confiscate its property.
Few Creoles gave much thought to the needs of the masses of workers and peasants
Saint Dominique
•Ironically, black slaves and mulatto freemen launched the revolutionary era, not the Creoles. •Saint Dominique revolted against French authority and drove out white authority. Toussaint L’Ouverture led a disciplined rebel army and fended off attacks by other European nations (France, Spain, and Britain) and even revolts by mulatto factions. •The success of black slaves in Haiti disturbed conservative nations in general and slaveholding nations in particular.
At the end of the bloody uprising of the slaves of the island of St. Domingue against their French masters, on January 1, 1804 General Dessalines, leader of the uprising after the arrest of Toussaint L’Ouverture, read the following Act of Independence on the Place d'Armes of Gonaïves. The actual author of the text was Dessalines’ secretary, Boisrond Tonerre. Dessalines was soon to have himself crowned emperor… and was assassinated in 1806.
LIBERTY OR DEATHGonaïves, January 1, 1804
Year I of IndependenceToday, January 1, 1804, the General in Chief of the Indigenous Army, accompanied by generals and army chiefs convoked in order to take measures tending to the happiness of the country:After having made known to the assembled generals his true intention of forever ensuring to the natives of Haiti a stable government — the object of his greatest solicitude, which he did in a speech that made known to foreign powers the resolution to render the country independent, and to enjoy the liberty consecrated by the blood of the people of this island; and, after having gathered their opinions, asked each of the assembled generals to pronounce a vow to forever renounce France; to die rather than to live under its domination; and to fight for independence with their last breath.The generals, imbued with these sacred principles, after having with one voice given their adherence to the well manifested project of independence, have all sworn before eternity and before the entire universe to forever renounce France and to die rather than live under its domination.Signed:DessalinesGeneral-in-Chief
Christophe, Pétion, Clerveaux, Vernet, GabartMajor Generals
P.Romain, G. Gérin, L. Capois, Jean-Louis Francois, Férou, Cangé, G. Bazelais, Magloire Ambroise, J.J. Herne, Toussaint Brave, Yayou
Brigadier generalsBonet, F. Paplier, Morelly, Chevalier, Marion
Adjutants-generalMagny, Roux
Brigade ChiefsChaperon, B. Goret, Macajoux, Dupuy, Carbonne, Diaquoiainé, Raphael, Malet, Derenoncourt
Army officersBoisrond Tonnerre
Secretary
New Spain and Peru –Sparked by European war
• When Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal in 1807 and deposed the monarchs, royal authority in the Iberian colonies weakened.
– Argentina removed itself from royal control in 1810 and proclaimed independence in 1816.
– Rebels in Venezuela pronounced their independence in 1811.
• Often referred to as the ‘father of South America, the Venezuelan Creole Simon Bolivar led multiple Latin American independence movements in the northern part of South America and in Central America.
• Meanwhile, Jose de San Martin crossed the Andes from Argentina into Chile and drove out the Spanish in the southern part of the continent.
Bolivar & San Martin Fight Bolivar & San Martin Fight for Independence!for Independence!
While these Creole-led independence movements advocated popular sovereignty, they desired neither social reform like those promoted by Robespierre nor the egalitarian society like in Haiti.
• Other European nations considered sending troops to stop these movements and supplant their rule over the region.
• However, Great Britain opposed European intervention and hoped for new trade and investment opportunities, and with the possibility of British naval interference, other nations weren’t willing to risk a British naval war.
After its mild victory in the War of 1812 against Great Britain, the United States issued the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 in an attempt to strengthen its own influence and to voice opposition to European interference in the Western Hemisphere, but the U.S.’s position was irrelevant because of its comparatively weak
international status.
Mexico: Revolution’s Origins
• Whereas the South American independence movements were struggles by the upper class, Mexico’s independence included class revolution and race warfare.
• Creoles and Peninsulares made disorganized attempts for independence from 1808 to 1810.
• But…
Mexico, Phase 1
• The rebellion of Amerindian and mestizo peasants led by Father Miguel Hidalgo confronted and united the upper classes.
• Father Hidalgo demanded civil rights for peasants, a redistribution of wealth, equality for peasants, and the return of land to indigenous peoples.
Mexico, Phase 2• Subsequently, both liberal and conservative
elites joined to crush the rebellion, and the revolutionary movement dissolved into guerrilla warfare when Father Hidalgo was captured and executed in 1811.
• However, the 1820 liberal revolution in Spain led conservative Mexican Creoles to rebel that same year: led by Agustin de Iturbide, this movement called for independence and promised benefits to all the upper class groups in Mexico without basic social and economic change.
• With such overwhelming support, the Spanish were forced to concede Mexican independence in 1821 and Iturbide declared himself emperor.
Mexico, Phase 3
• When support for Iturbide waned because of his incompetent administrative abilities, the Creoles deposed Iturbide and established a republic. The southern portion of Mexico declared independence and ultimately formed the states of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
The current flag was adopted in 1968, but the overall design has been used since 1821 when the First National Flag was created
.
Brazil• Compared to the wars and revolutions in Spanish
America, Brazil won independence relatively easily.
• Trigger: Napoleon’s conquest forced the Portuguese royal family into exile and the royals ruled from Brazil. During their Brazilian exile, Portugal’s royal family encouraged Brazilian immigration, industrial production, and formally joined Brazil with Portugal as a joint kingdom with equal status.
• The king returned to Portugal in 1820 and repealed the reforms and ended Brazil’s raised status.
• However, the king’s ruling son in Portugal was successfully persuaded by Brazilian elites to declare independence, which Portugal conceded in 1825.
Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil; Pedro IV of Portugal
Part III
Results??
Changes? Continuities?
•By the 1830s, only the Caribbean islands (except Haiti) and a few enclaves on the coasts of Central and South America remained European colonies.•Nineteen new states emerged, and they maintained many similarities yielded from their common colonial heritage.•Moreover, these new nations reflected their previous colonial status through their economic, political, and social structures.
Thesis: In the End, elites win; everyone else loses . . .
No Unity!No Unity!
Failure of Bolivar’s dream for a united South America:
$ Many newly independent countries struggle with civil wars.
By 1830s, geographic factors (mts., the Amazon, etc.) plus cultural differences defeated attempts at unification.
$ Gran Columbia.
$ United Provinces of Central America.
•Economically, the new Latin American states were dependent on the export and sale of agricultural and mineral raw materials.
•The industrial output was low and outmoded production techniques (still dependent on cheap manual labor) resembled those of central and eastern Europe.
•The nations imported manufactured goods from European nations and became indebted to them for investment capital; governments offered tax breaks and other investment incentives, and Europeans came to invest heavily in the 19th c.
•European businessmen combined labor-saving technology with cheap labor to create profitable plantations and mines, and later factories, roads, railroad, telegraph networks, and petroleum refineries.
Rich property holders and the Catholic Church continued to wield economic and political power and were now joined by the national military establishments.
Independence brought few economic improvements for the masses, who continued to work for the elite.
Like the eastern European peasantry, the peons received little pay and lacked decent housing, adequate food, proper sanitation, and basic education.
In the new states…
• On paper, the constitutions were influenced by revolutionary France & US: they set up liberal republicans with elected officers, civil liberties, equality before the law, and varying degrees of religious toleration.
• In reality, however, these ideals were not realized as the tiny elite continued to impose rule over the impoverished and uneducated masses. Civil rights were not extended to the masses, and political involvement was limited to a small portion of the population.
Fraud and corruption permeated politics, and elections were frequently overturned by armed
forces led by caudillos.
Caudillos first appeared during the early 19th c. in South America, as a type of militia leader with a charismatic personality and enough of a populist program of generic future reforms to gain broad sympathy, at least at the outset, among the
common people.
Caudillos
Juan Vicente Gómez (1837-1935) overthrew the elected president, and ruled Venezuela by his personal
authority until his death
Political Factions
Two groups typically emerged –conservatives and liberals:
Conservatives wanted to preserve the powers and privileges of the upper class and church
Liberals wanted to break down these privileges so that the small, mostly mestizo, middle class could share economic and political power.
SlaveryThe new states also
permitted the continuation of slavery by typically initiating programs of gradual emancipation, but they ultimate abolished slavery.
In 1888, Brazil was the last state to abolish slavery.
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