23 nation building and economic transformation in the americas

Nation Building and Economic Transformation in the Americas

Independence in Latin America,

1800-1830

The Problem of Order, 1825-1890

The Challenge of Social and Economic

Change

Monday, February 20, 12

Learning Objectives:

1. Be able compare and contrast early independence movements in Spanish South America, Mexico, and Portuguese Brazil.

2. Be able to describe late eighteenth- and nineteenth-century efforts to end slavery and achieve equal rights for women and blacks.


Focus Questions:

What were the causes of the revolutions for independence in Latin America?

What major political challenges did Western Hemisphere nations face in the nineteenth century?

How did economic modernization and the effects of abolitionism, immigration, and women's rights change the nations of the Western Hemisphere?


Independence in Latin America, 1800-1830


Both Iberian empires had

reformed their colonial

administration and strengthened

their military forces in the eighteenth

century


Roots of Revolution, to 1810

The Enlightenment as well as revolutionary documents were circulating widely in

Latin America by 1800

Local-born members of Latin America’s elite and

middle classes were frustrated by the political and economic power of

colonial officials and angered by high taxes


Napoleon's decision to invade Portugal (1807) and

Spain (1808) created the crisis of legitimacy that

undermined the authority of colonial officials

In Spain, in contrast, Napoleon forced King

Ferdinand VII to abdicate and placed his own

brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the throne


Spanish patriots fighting against the

French created a new political body, the *Junta Central, to

administer the areas they controlled

These were temporary political structures to

govern colonial regions while the chaos in

Europe ensued


In late 1808 and 1809, popular movements

overthrew Spanish colonial officials in Venezuela, Mexico, and Alto Peru (modern Bolivia) and created local juntas

By 1810, Spanish colonial authorities were facing a new round of revolutions

more clearly focused on the achievement of independence


Spanish South America, 1810-1825

Faced with determined resistance, the revolutionary

movement placed overwhelming political

authority in the hands of its military leader *Simon

Bolivar (1783-1830), who later became the preeminent

leader of independence movement in Spanish South

America


Between 1813 and 1817 military advantages shifted back and forth between the

patriots and loyalists

The revolt in Spain forced Ferdinand VII—restored to the throne in 1814 after the

defeat of Napoleon—to accept a constitution that

limited the powers of both the monarch and the

church


With resistance waning, present-day Venezuela, Colombia,

and Ecuador, were freed and Bolivar’s

forces occupied Peru and Bolivia (named

after Bolivar)


Mexico, 1810-1823In 1810 Mexico was Spain’s

wealthiest and most populous colony—its’ silver mines being

the world’s richest

Mexico also had the largest population of Spanish

immigrants among the colonies

As is the case for South America, colonial authority

waned during the Napoleonic wars


The first stage of revolution against Spain occurred in

central Mexico

On September 16, 1810 *Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla,

parish priest of a small town, gathered thousands of

disgruntled people to ruse up against the oppression of

Spanish officials

They attacked the ranches and mines that had exploited

themMonday, February 20, 12

The military tide quickly turned against Hidalgo and he was captured, tried and

executed in 1811

The Revolution continued under the leadership of

another priest— *Jose Maria Morelos

He attempted to draft a constitution in 1813 but was

defeated and executed in 1815


The conservative origins of Mexico’s transition to

independence were highlighted by the decision to create a monarchial form of

government and crowed a revolutionary military

leader king

In early 1823, the army overthrew this king and

Mexico became a republicMonday, February 20, 12

23 nation building and economic transformation in the americas

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