• A. 1700 - Hapsburg line replaced by French Bourbons
• B. Felt strong enough by mid-century to seek reform
  • 1. Weaken local, creole power in favor of royal and penisulare power
  • 2. Rationalize trade
  • 3. More efficiently siphon off colonial wealth
  • 4. Strengthen Empire against outsiders, e.g. British, Dutch, French.
• C. Colonial reaction
  • 1. Greatly stimulated economy
  • 2. Deeply upset local groups who saw power, traditional life threatened
  • 3. Amerindians disliked efforts to bring them into modern economy
  • 4. Lay basis for independence

II. Other Factors Contributing to Independence

• A. Slow development of local pride and local identity
• B. Spread of Enlightenment Ideas
• C. Example of United States
• D. Increasing trade with countries other than Spain and Portugal

III. Independence

• A. Napoleon
  • 1. 1807 - Invades Spain and Portugal
  • 2. Portuguese king, Dom Joao, escapes to Brazil
  • 3. But Spanish empire decapitated - Ferdinand VII taken to France
  • 4. Bonaparte relative put on Spanish throne
• B. Colonial Reaction
  • 1. Initially, creoles and penisulares pledges loyalty to Spanish resistance, the Cadiz Cortes
  • 2. But Cadiz becomes to liberal for most creoles, while Cadiz paid no attention to creoles
  • 3. Conflicts break out between creoles and penisulares - creoles establish juntas
• C. Wars of Independence
  • 1. 1814 - Ferdinand VII returns to power, seeks to impose absolutism
  • 2. Creoles, with experience running their own affairs, would not accept this
  • 3. Tremendous disunity in wars
    • a. flares early in Gran Colombia, Argentina, late in Mexico
    • b. exposes local conflicts, e.g. Buenos Aires vs. the provinces
• D. Mexican and Peruvian Independence; Keeping Cuba and Puerto Rico
  • 1. Peru and Mexico had high levels of racial conflict
  • 2. In Mexico, mass Indian revolts push creoles to be loyal to Spain
  • 3. In Peru, memory of Tupac Amaru causes same loyalty
  • 4. Indians in Peru more loyal to Spain because they saw Crown as protector against creoles
  • 5. Spain's turn towards liberalism, 1820, pushes Mexico to revolt
  • 6. Peru has independence forced on it by outsiders, Bolivar (Venez.) and San Martin (Arg.)
  • 7. Spain holds on to Cuba and Puerto Rico because whites their fear Haitian example
• E. Brazil has slow transition to independence due to role of royal family

IV. Results of Independence

• A. Ten years of war leaves enormous destruction and severe economic crisis
• B. Political structures shattered
  • 1. Who will rule? Problem of political legitimacy
  • 2. Constitutions of little value - 190 in Latin America in first 150 years
  • 3. Most trained administrators are penisulares and leave
• C. Militarization
  • 1. Military only strong institution left
  • 2. Some areas ("Argentina") have no effective government at all - much warfare
  • 3. Private armies of wealthy landowners increasingly important
  • 4. Chile and Brazil are exceptions, have string stable governments
  • 5. Mexico, Argentina, Gran Colombia have worst problmes

V. Early Governments

• A. In most places, earliest governments dominated by Liberals
• B. Liberal program
  • 1. End of slavery, racial laws; anti-clericism; democracy; free trade
  • 2. Modernization of the economy, pursuit of technology and industrialization
  • 3. Conversion of communal Indian lands to private property
  • 4. All this and effort to emulate Great Britain and the United States
• C. Liberal program largely fails
  • 1. Latin America lacked resources to start and industrial revolution - 100 years to early
  • 2. Liberals underestimated conservatism and loyalty to Church of masses
  • 3. Liberal ideas were and exotic import from Europe and USA, not indigenous
• D. Conservatives reassert themselves in late 1820s after Liberal failures
  • 1. In practice, only small differences between Liberals and Conservatives
  • 2. Like Liberals, sought economic growth
  • 3. Key distinction - Conservatives friendly to Church, saw it as foundation of stable society
  • 4. Promoted strong, authoritarian government
  • 5. Maintained traditional relations with Indians, more likely to let them keep communal lands
• E. Federalism vs. Centralism
  • 1. Biggest political issue of 1800s
  • 2. Federalism - provinces have some autonomy in decision making from central government
  • 3. Centralism - Central government dictates all decisions, even at local level
  • 4. Centralism associated with Conservatives, Federalism with Liberals
  • 5. Federalism will fail
    • a. Large, thinly populated countries with poor rods prone to break up under Federalism
    • b. Generally, whoever was in power (Liberal of Conservative) comes to promote Centralism

• A. Lacking strong political legitimacy, government tends to be personal, not institutionalized
• B. Thus develops the caudillo – strongman charismatic rule
• C. Two kinds of caudillo
  • 1. Elitist caudillo
    • a. Believes in limited modernization
    • b. Preserves most institutions of elite rule
    • c. A “king” more powerful than any Spanish monarch
    • d. Expedient, but brought order when successful
  • 2. Folk of populist caudillo
    • a. Power rooted in the masses
    • b. Charismatic ruler seen as “one of us” by people
    • c. Guardian of folk traditions
    • d. Power based on personal relations, like the patron

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