Latin American History

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Compare and contrast the North American and Latin American revolutions.

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The North American and Latin American revolutions both sought independence from European powers and were influenced by Enlightenment ideals and dissatisfaction with colonial rule. However, the American Revolution (1775–1783) was shorter and more geographically confined, led primarily by George Washington, and resulted in a unified nation-state. In contrast, Latin American revolutions (1808–1826) were prolonged, widespread, had diverse leadership, and led to multiple independent states, with some abolishing slavery directly post-revolution.

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The revolutions in Latin American and those in North America were comparable in their intellectual origins. Revolutionary leaders in both regions were in part motivated by ideals of self-government that can be traced to the Enlightenment. Both were also motivated by their dissatisfaction with the conditions of colonial rule and believed that their colonies had outgrown the need to remain in a broader empire. The revolutions in South America, in fact, were to some extent inspired by events elsewhere, including the American Revolution and the French Revolution. The revolutions in Latin America, like the American Revolution, ended with independence from a European power. The revolutions were also similar in that there were significant divisions within the revolutionary forces, with many creole loyalists fighting on the side of the Spanish forces.

As for differences, one major point of departure was the fact that Latin American colonies, unlike those in North America,...

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did not join together as a unified nation-state in the aftermath of their revolutions. Indeed, the revolutions in Latin America proceeded as a series of events rather than as a relatively unified uprising in a short space of time (as in North America.) While many of the former viceroyalties in South America united as nation-states, like Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, and others, and attempts like Gran Colombia were made by Simon Bolivar and his followers to foster Latin American unity, several nation-states emerged from the wars of independence. Brazil, for that matter, was a Portuguese colony and did not achieve independence until after most of its Spanish-speaking neighbors. Finally, in many South American countries, revolution led directly to the abolition of slavery, whereas in the new United States, slavery flourished in the wake of the revolution.

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The revolutions in these two areas were somewhat similar, but had very important differences that ended up making their outcomes very different.

All of these revolutions were revolutions that came out of Enlightenment ideas and which were basically started because of unhappiness on the part of people of European descent in the colonies who felt they were being treated badly.  In both regions, the colonists were treated as if they were at least in some way less valuable than those born in Europe.  In Latin America, the peninsulares were privileged and the criollos were discriminated against.  In North America, the colonists were not allowed to govern themselves as they thought they should.  The colonists in both regions felt, in accordance with Enlightement ideas, they should be treated as the equals of those people who had been born in Europe.

What was really different about the two regions was their commitment to the ideas of democracy.  The North American revolutionaries, while not as democratic as we are today, were very much more democratically inclined than those in Latin America.  For this reason, the United States ended up with a representative democracy while most Latin American countries struggled with the problems caused by rulers who aspired to dictatorial powers.

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