Morelos and Bolivar and Latin American Independence
Spain was a global superpower in matters of wealth and their successes stemming from the arts and academia to travel and territorial conquests. Of these accomplishments, their most prized achievement was acquiring a heavy portion of Latin America where their influence originated from the northern borders of Mexico deep into South America. They abused the resources they found, cheated the natives all the while demolishing their culture and population. In turn this gave birth the rise of a number of rebellions by the oppressed against the conquistadors to take back the land and implement laws and social standards that benefited the people and return to them the rights that they had been stripped of.
Prominent leaders that rose to the occasion during the chaotic rebellions, include José Morelos and Simón Bolívar. Both of these leaders sought great reform for the Latin American people. The way in which the natives were going to be governed and the rights they deemed to be equal for all was the overall premise in the goals of Bolivar and Morelos. However, when it came to matters of execution and how the Latin America should be ran post rebellion, they differed. Morelos uses his piece The Sentiments of the Nation to justify his ideals concerning a democratic state that was heavily theocratic in manner. Bolívar, in contrast had a more efficient plan. In his Address Delivered at the Inauguration of the Second National Congress of Venezuela, Bolívar supports the idea of governing Latin America as a republic.
The Sentiments of the Nation is a defensive piece that lays the groundwork for Morelos’ Constitutional Decree for the Liberty of the Mexican America. The article has twenty-thre...
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... in particular because the republic form of government pertained more to the needs of the people. Morelos’s standpoint was attractive in manners of its similarity to Bolivar’s but his excessive emphasis on theocracy being a part of his projected democratic foundation was not appealing. For something to be a democracy, one would expect the fair treatment of all and a very large amount of tolerance. But Morelos’ ideas made government too theocentric. From lack of religious toleration to the establishment of the constitution, his plans were too exclusionary.
Both Morelos and Bolivar had different type of political views on how Latin America should be governed. Morelos wanted to keep the traditional caste system that was used by the Spanish. Bolivar wanted a republic, a system for the people. He felt that the government used overseas would not work in the Americas.
Models for post-revolutionary Latin American government are born of the complex economic and social realities of 17th and 18th century Europe. From the momentum of the Enlightenment came major political rebellions of the elite class against entrenched national monarchies and systems of power. Within this time period of elitist revolt and intensive political restructuring, the fundamental basis for both liberal and conservative ideology was driven deep into Latin American soil. However, as neither ideology sought to fulfill or even recognize the needs or rights of mestizo people under government rule, the initial liberal doctrine pervading Latin American nations perpetuated racism and economic exploitation, and paved the way for all-consuming, cultural wars in the centuries to come.
...he lower class had their agenda on mind, and even disrupted the campaign of Allende in order to do so. Allende was then forced to deal with situations he should never have had to, thus hurting his political status with the working class because he could never deliver the results they wanted all the time.
The leadership in South America compared to the leadership in Mexico was quite different. But in some areas, where they were compared were very similar. In both places, a Revolution had begun. Starting with how they are both similar, Mexico and South America both wanted independence. They wanted to be free from the old fashioned ways of life, to start fresh and bring in new ideas to their people. In South America, their head leadership consisted of so very popular men named Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin. These men were both wealthy, Simon was a Venezuela Creole, which is a Spaniard born in Latin America, and Jose was a great liberator, or a person who sets people free from imprisonment. In some ways these two men worked together to gain their independence but then again not at all. In 1811, Simon had gained its independence from Spain. A major struggle, that was only the beginning. Simon suffered from many defeats and was exiled twice. But he never gave up hope. In a turning point, Simon led over 20,000 soldiers into Columbia and took a victory from the Spanish Bogota. By 1821 he had won Venezuelan independence. From here he marched into South Ecuador where he met Jose. Simon’s ways of gaining independence was only the beginning of South Americas revolution.
For four hundred years Spain ruled over an immense and profitable global empire that included islands in the Caribbean, Americas, Puerto Rico, and Cuba. After the Napoleonic Wars (1808-1815) many of Spain’s colonies followed the US’s lead, fighting and winning their independence. These revolts, coupled with other nations chipping away at Spain’s interests, dwindled Spain’s former Empire. By 1860, only Cuba and Puerto Rico were what remained of Spain’s former Empire. Following the lead of other former Spanish colonies, Cuban fighters started their campaign for independence, known as the Ten year war (1868-1878). This war developed into a Cuban insurgency which fought a guerilla war against the Spanish occupation.2
...trong disbelief that Latin America could achieve independence. In depth on how spain had created such restriction on Latin America, and they created a boundary. “More than anyone, I desire to see America fashioned into the greatest nation in the world, greatest not so much by virtue of her area and wealth as by freedom and glory” (Bolivar 202). Bolivar had good intentions for Latin America because he had wanted them to achieve independence. When Bolivar said, “freedom and glory” he is explaining that he wanted the Latin Americans to gain freedom. This is why, he was slightly a champion because although he thought they couldn’t move on into their own democracy he still had a view that the impossible could be done. Therefore, to some extent he was a champion for wanting having a view that they could achieve independence, which shows his outlook on the Latin Americans.
Chavez is one of the greatest Civil Rights activists of times. As a child he watched workers be mistreated and misused. He follows King and Gandhi’s principles of nonviolence and lives by their standards. He also believes that the highest form of freedom carries with it the greatest measure of
Most importantly, the Mexican government lots the war of ideas. Though the Mexican government maintained a virtual monopoly of the press, Marcos and the Zapatistsas managed to diffuse their ideas and goals across the country. Though many did not support their violent tactics, the Zapatistas brought attention to the “plight of those at the losing end of Mexico’s economic globalization, particularly the indigenous groups who were losing both their livehood and their hopes for self-determination” (155). Marcos’ articulate and incisive letters put the government on the “moral defense” (168).
In this letter, Eugenio Maria de Hostos explained how he felt about people knowing they are not right plus don’t accept others with abuse of the right. Moreover, he also showed a lot of anger because the government from Puerto Rico didn’t have any representative in the Cortes. Eugenio Maria de Hostos, made emphasis that the only one to attend to the Constitutional Assembly were those executives officers of the revolution that had taken to insure that only Peninsulas who support the regime were eligible to come. In this last paragraph Eugenio Maria de Hostos, showed unhappiness when he said that they are totally able to withdraw themselves from public life. Even he said that they don’t need to have any relationships with those that for three
Latin American Independence was the drive for independence from Spain and France by the Latin American people. There were many contributing factors that ultimately led to the uprising of Latin American colonies. Europe's strong hold on the economic and political life of Latin America, was creating friction between the Latin Colonies and the European nations. Eventually, this would become enough for the Latin American people and the drive for independence from France and Spain would begin.
That is when Simon Bolivar ran to New Granada and he was able to form a new army. Most of the people had lost their need for independence except for the blacks and the mulatteos in Venezuela. Most of the people who were against the war were the elites. This is because they saw the war was only been fought by ...
For 113 days during the summer of 1898, the United States was at war with Spain. Neither the president of the United States, nor his cabinet, nor the the queen of Spain, nor her ministers wanted the war wanted the war. It happened eventhough they made their best efforts to prevent it. It happened because of ambition, miscalculation, and stupidity; and it happened because of kindness, wit, and resourcefulness. It also happened because some were indifferent to the suffering of the world’s wretched and others were not (O’Toole 17). By winning the war the United States proved the the rest of the world and to itself that it could and would fight against foreign nations. For many years, world power had been concentrated in the countries in Europe. Nations such as Great Britain, France, Germany, and Spain had the most influence in global affairs. But a shift in power was gradually taking place as the United States matured. The young nation gained wealth and strength. Its population grew immensely, and many people believed it would become a major world power (Bachrach, 11) Spain was one of the many European countries that had territory in the United States. Spain controlled mostly some islands off the coast of Central America. The most important of these were Cuba and Puerto Rico. The United States was led to believe that the Spanish mosgoverned and abused the people of these islands. In fact, Spain did overtax and mistreat the Cubans, who rebelled in 1868 and again in 1895. Thus, the American people felt sympathetic toward the Cuban independence movement. In addition, Spain had frequently interfered with trade between its colonies and the United States. Even though the United States had been a trading partner with Cuba since the seventeenth century, Spain sometimes tried to completely stop their trade with Cuba. In Spain doing so, this sometimes caused damage to U.S. commercial interests. The United States highly disagreed with Spain’s right to interfere with this trade relationship. (Bachrach, 12) The United States was also concerned that other trading and commercial interests were threatened by the number of ships and soldiers Spain kept in the area. If the United States had to fight a war with Canada or Mexico, these Spanish forces could quickly mobilize against the United States.
Simon Bolivar’s self-exile to Jamaica caused him to write a letter to the governor of Jamaica expressing his thoughts on the then current condition of Latin America and how he hopes to fix it. Bolivar strongly believed in the ideas of the enlightenment and uses them to justify his claims of action that he hopes to carry out in the continent. In the Jamaica Letter, Bolivar illustrates his compassion for a revolution and liberation from Spain, but also his doubts and pessimistic viewpoint on uniting Latin America. Through a South American Revolution fueled by the rage of the Spanish creoles and Americanos, Bolivar believes that South America can sever its tie to Spain and become fully independent as well as self-governable in a republic; however, Bolivar contradicts himself because he does not fully live up to the
Enlightenment ideas in Latin America took place during the 1700's to the early 1800's. These ideas were appealed to the people because they taught that man was free and that all were equal. These ideas were important especially in countries were slavery existed and countries under the control of foreign powers. The Spark that ignited wide spread revolt was napoleon's invasion of Spain. He ousted the Spanish king and placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. Latin American leaders saw Spain's opportunity to reject foreign domination and demand independence from colonial rule. Two places that were influenced by the enlightenment were Haiti and South America. Toussaint L'Ouverture was also influenced by the enlightenment.
The Russian and Mexican revolution’s differed in the ideas they adopted but they were similar in the way they met their goals and started their uprisings. The Russian revolution was made with the goal to create an egalitarian government that was based off of Karl Marx’s socialism principles. In short, t...
Hugo Chavez's political discourse based on the Marxist thoughts soon was creating "The Bolivarian Revolution", and since its beginning offered the XXI century socialism, which one was never described specifically to people. As a result, with the passing of the years Chavez created an atmosphere of division, violence and unrest within the population. Thus, Created a marked difference between the supporters and opponents of his policies, a situation that President Hugo Chavez took in advantages for his own purposes, deploy a communist regime disguised as a socialist. In other words, Chavez tricked Venezuela’s people, offering the establishment of a socialism that was nothing more than a dictatorship adapted to their own purposes, become the most recognized leader of the left in worldwide.