1stEstate

(Priests)

2nd Estate(Nobles)

3rd Estate(Peasants, Bourgeoisie, Workers, Everyone Else)

KingRemember theFrench Revolution?

3rd Estate(Peasants, Bourgeoisie, Workers, Everyone Else)

2nd Estate(Nobles)

1stEstate

(Priests)

KingThe people at the very bottom overthrew everyone above them in the Reign of Terror.

The ideas of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution – “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity” – spread to France’s most important colony in the New World, called Saint Domingue or Haiti.

Europeans

Mulattoes(Mixed, Free)

Africans(Slaves)

Haiti was an island colony of sugar plantations that ran on a slave economy.

What effect do you think the French Revolution had on Haiti?

Toussaint Louverture was born a slave in Haiti. His father was a Noble in West Africa, and he read the writings of the French Philosophes:

“Nations of Europe, your slaves need neither your generosity nor your advice to break the yoke that oppresses them. All they need is a brave leader. Who will he be? There is no doubt that he will appear. He will come and raise the sacred standard of liberty.”

Europeans

Africans(FREE!)

Mulattoes(Mixed, Free)

Toussaint led a slave revolution against the Europeans and the Mulattoes, who were paid by the Europeans.

What do you think the French did?

Toussaint Louverture freed the Haitian slaves during the Reign of Terror, and the Jacobins agreed with him at first, making him governor of Saint Domingue.

Why do you think Louverture got along with the Jacobins?

But when Napoleon took over, he turned against the Haitians and sent an army to Saint Domingue to capture Toussaint Louverture.

Why do you think Napoleon conflicted with Louverture?

Louverture was sent to a prison in France where he died. But the “Tree of Black Liberty” was not dead.

Toussaint said to his people: “In overthrowing me, the French have only felled the tree of black liberty in Haiti. It will shoot up again, for it is deeply rooted, and its roots are many.”

Haiti declared independence in 1804, becoming the second independent country in the whole New World!

The situation was similar in Spain’s colonies all over Latin America. The Spanish killed Tupac Amaru, the last Inca King, in 1572.

Spanish

Criollos(Spanish Blood

Born in New World)

Mestizos(Mixed Spanish

and Native Blood)

Native Americansand African Slaves

They set up a system of oppression that was very similar to Feudalism in Europe or Slavery in Haiti.

In 1780, Tupac Amaru’s great grandson, Tupac Amaru II, led a revolution of the Native American Incas against the Spanish.

Mestizos(Mixed Spanish

and Native Blood)

Native Americans

Spanish

Criollos(Spanish Blood

Born in New World)

Mestizos(Mixed Spanish

and Native Blood)

Incas (Native Americans)

But since there was no Latin American nationalism yet, the Criollos and the Mestizos sided with the Spanish against the Inca People.

Tupac Amaru II was captured by the Spanish and executed. The Spanish governor had him drawn and quartered by four horses horrify the Native Americans and make sure they never rebelled again.

In 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain and made his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, King. This provoked a strong sense of Nationalism both in Spain and Latin America.

Spanish

Criollos(Spanish Blood

Born in New World)Mestizos

(Mixed Spanish and Native Blood)

Native Americansand Africans (FREE!)

The Creoles, who had studied the Enlightenment and the American and French Revolutions, decided to start their own revolution against Joseph Bonaparte and the Spanish in Latin America.

What was different this time?

Napoleon Bonaparte changed the map of Europe…

His enthusiasm for French nationalism sparked homegrown nationalist movements in the places he conquered: Italy, Germany, Russia, Portugal and Spain – and by proxy, Latin America.

Simon Bolivar was a liberal Creole from Venezuela who always had two books with him: Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, and Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws.

He met Napoleon in Europe and became a strong Latin American Nationalist.

The independent government of Haiti gave Simon Bolivar money and weapons when he promised to free all of the slaves in Latin America.

Jose de San Martin was a Criollo from Argentina who had been trained as a soldier in Europe. He led an army of Criollos, Mestizos and Native Americans against the Spanish in Chile.

Simon Bolivar liberated the northern half of South America: Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Bolivia.

San Martin liberated the southern half: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile.

The two Liberators of South America met in Guayaquil, Ecuador and agreed that South America should be free, equal and fraternal – like the French Revolution.

But Nationalism in Latin America was getting too strong…

Simon Bolivar dreamed of a Gran Colombia – all the people in the lands Columbus discovered living together in one country.

But the people of Latin America wanted their own countries. Gran Colombia broke up into Colombia, Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Panama.

Jose de San Martin wanted a United Provinces of South America, like the United States of America.

But the people of each region wanted their own countries, and the United Provinces broke up into Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Bolivia (named after Simon Bolivar).

This surplus of nationalism led all the new countries of South America to fight each other for over a hundred years.

Spanish

Criollos(Spanish Blood

Born in New World)Mestizos

(Mixed Spanish and Native Blood)

Native Americansand Africans

Also, in most of the new countries, the Criollos treated the Mestizos, Native Americans and Africans almost as badly as the Spanish had.

Just before Simon Bolivar died in 1830, he said:

“We have achieved our independence at the expense of everything else.”