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 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?
Transcript
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
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
them
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
