Nationalist Revolts

• Revolutionary ideas in Latin America were sparked by the successes of revolutions in North America.

Social classes divided colonial Latin America. Peninsulares were Spanish and Portuguese officials who resided temporarily in Latin America for political and economic gain. At the top of the class structure, peninsulares dominated Latin America. They held all important positions. Creoles controlled land and business and resented the peninsulares. The peninsulares regarded the creoles as second-class citizens. Mestizos were the largest group. They worked as servants or laborers.

Prelude to Revolution
Creoles were the descendants of Europeans born in Latin America who lived there permanently. The creoles especially favored the revolutionary ideals of equality of all people in the eyes of the law, free trade, and a free press. The creoles disliked the domination of their trade by Spain and Portugal. When Napoleon overthrew the monarchies of Spain and Portugal, the authority of their colonial empires was severely weakened. Then, between 1807 and 1825, a series of revolts enabled most of Latin America to become independent.

Before the main independence movements began, an unusual revolution took place. In the French colony of Saint Domingue, on the island of Hispaniola, François-Dominique Toussaint-Louverture led more than 100,000 slaves in revolt. They seized control of all of Hispaniola. On January 1, 1804, the western part of Hispaniola, now called Haiti, announced its freedom. Haiti became the first independent state in Latin America.

Revolt in Mexico
Beginning in 1810, Mexico, too, experienced a revolt. The first real hero of Mexican independence was Miguel Hidalgo. A parish priest, Hidalgo lived in a village about 100 miles (160 km) from Mexico City. Hidalgo had studied the French Revolution. He roused the local Native Americans and mestizos (people of mixed European and Native American descent) to free themselves from the Spanish:
 

“My children, this day comes to us as a new dispensation. Are you ready to receive it? Will you be free? Will you make the effort to recover from the hated Spaniards the lands stolen from your forefathers 300 years ago?”

—Miguel Hidalgo, September 16, 1810

On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo led this ill-equipped army of thousands of Native Americans and mestizos in an attack against the Spaniards. He was an inexperienced military leader, however, and his forces were soon crushed. A military court sentenced Hidalgo to death. However, his memory lives on. In fact, September 16, the first day of the uprising, is Mexico’s Independence Day.

The participation of Native Americans and mestizos in Mexico’s revolt against Spanish control frightened both the creoles and the peninsulares. Afraid of the masses, they cooperated in defeating the popular revolutionary forces. Conservative elites—both creoles and peninsulares—then decided to overthrow Spanish rule. The conservatives wanted an independent nation ruled by a monarch. They selected a creole military leader, Agustín de Iturbide, to help bring in this new government.

In 1821 Mexico declared its independence from Spain. Iturbide named himself emperor in 1822 but was deposed in 1823. Mexico then became a republic.

Revolts in South America
José de San Martín of Argentina and Simón Bolívar of Venezuela, both members of the creole elite, were hailed as the “Liberators of South America.” These men led revolutions throughout the continent. José de San Martín believed that the Spaniards must be removed from all of South America if any South American nation was to be free. Bolívar began the struggle for independence in Venezuela in 1810. He then went on to lead revolts in New Granada (Colombia) and Ecuador.

By 1810, the forces of San Martín had liberated Argentina from Spanish authority. In January 1817, San Martín led his forces over the Andes to attack the Spanish in Chile. The journey was an amazing feat. Two-thirds of the pack mules and horses died during the trip. Soldiers suffered from lack of oxygen and severe cold while crossing mountain passes. The Andes mountains were more than two miles (3.2 km) above sea level.

The arrival of San Martín’s forces in Chile completely surprised the Spaniards. Spanish forces were badly defeated at the Battle of Chacabuco on February 12, 1817. In 1821 San Martín moved on to Lima, Peru, the center of Spanish authority. San Martín was convinced that he could not complete the liberation of Peru alone. He welcomed the arrival of Simón Bolívar and his forces. Bolívar, the “Liberator of Venezuela,” took on the task of crushing the last significant Spanish army at Ayacucho on December 9, 1824.

By the end of 1824, Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile had all become free of Spain. Earlier, in 1822, the prince regent of Brazil had declared Brazil’s independence from Portugal. The Central American states had become independent in 1823. In 1838 and 1839, they divided into five republics: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua.

Threats to Independence
In the early 1820s, only one major threat remained to the newly won independence of the Latin American states. Members of the Concert of Europe favored the use of troops to restore Spanish control in Latin America. The British, who wished to trade with Latin America, disagreed. They proposed joint action with the United States against any European moves against Latin America.

Distrustful of British motives, James Monroe, the president of the United States, acted alone in 1823. In the Monroe Doctrine, he guaranteed the independence of the new Latin American nations. The Monroe Doctrine also strongly warned against any European intervention in the Americas. More important to Latin American independence than American words, however, was the British navy. Other European powers feared the power of the British navy, which stood between Latin America and any planned European invasion force.

How did the French Revolution help inspire the revolution in Mexico?
 

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Nation Building

• After they became independent, Latin American nations faced a staggering range of problems.

Rule of the Caudillos
Most of the new nations of Latin America began with republican governments, but they had no experience in self-rule. Soon after independence, strong leaders known as caudillos gained power. Caudillos ruled chiefly by military force and were usually supported by the landed elites. Many kept the new national states together. Some were also modernizers who built roads and canals, ports, and schools. Others were destructive.

Antonio López de Santa Anna, for example, ruled Mexico from 1833 to 1855. During this time, he served as president for 11 two-year terms. Calling himself the “Napoleon of the West,” Santa Anna misused state funds, halted reforms, and created chaos. As one historian judged, “Any progress in Mexico achieved during the era of Santa Anna had nothing to do with him.” 

In 1835 American settlers in the Mexican state of Texas revolted against Santa Anna’s rule. Texas gained its independence in 1836 and United States statehood followed in 1845. War between Mexico and the United States soon followed (1846–1848). 

Mexico was defeated and lost almost one half of its territory to the United States in 
the Mexican War.

Fortunately for Mexico, Santa Anna’s disastrous rule was followed by a period of reform from 1855 to 1876. This era was dominated by Benito Juárez, a Mexican national hero. The son of Native American peasants, President Juárez brought liberal reforms to Mexico. Some of Juárez’s Laws of Reform included separation of church and state, toleration of all faiths, curbing the power of the military, an educational system for all of Mexico, and the redistribution of land to the poor.

Other caudillos, such as Juan Manuel de Rosas in Argentina, were supported by the masses. These caudillos became extremely popular and brought about radical change. Unfortunately, the caudillo’s authority depended on his personal power. When he died or lost power, civil wars for control of the country often erupted.

A New Imperialism
Political independence brought economic independence, but old patterns were quickly reestablished. Instead of Spain and Portugal, Great Britain and the United States now dominated the Latin American economy.

Great Britain dominated trade in Latin America for most of the nineteenth century. British merchants moved into Latin America in large numbers, and British investors poured in funds. By the late 1920s, the United States replaced Europe as the source of loans and investments. Direct U.S. investments in Latin America reached $3.5 billion, out of a world total of $7.5 billion.

American, British, and other foreign investors built transportation and communication systems and power plants. These investors also introduced new technologies such as refrigeration, steam engines, and mining equipment. These innovations led to increased production of export commodities such as wheat, tobacco, wool, sugar, coffee, and hides. At the same time, Latin American countries imported finished consumer goods, especially textiles, and had limited industry.

Economic Dependence
The emphasis on exporting raw materials and importing finished products ensured the ongoing domination of the Latin American economy by foreigners who reaped many benefits and profits. On the other hand, most Latin American countries experienced uneven economic development since they were almost wholly dependent on the sale or export of two or three cash crops—crops that are grown for sale rather than for personal use. A drop in world prices for the crops or failed harvests could be devastating to an economy based on cash crops.

Latin American countries remained economically dependent on Western nations, even though they were no longer colonies. In Central America and the Caribbean, export economies still dominated long into the 1900s. In some areas, such as in Cuba with sugar, in Brazil with coffee, and in Central America with bananas, an entire national economy continued to depend on a single cash crop.

Persistent Inequality
A fundamental problem for all of the new Latin American nations was the domination of society by the landed elites. Large estates remained a way of life in Latin America. By 1848, for example, the Sánchez Navarro family in Mexico possessed 17 estates made up of 16 million acres (6,480,000 ha). Latin American estates were often so large that they could not be farmed efficiently.

Land remained the basis of wealth, social prestige, and political power throughout the nineteenth century. Landed elites ran governments, controlled courts, and kept a system of inexpensive labor. These landowners made enormous profits by growing single cash crops, such as coffee for export. Most of the population had no land to grow basic food crops. As a result, the masses experienced dire poverty.

What were some of the difficulties that the new Latin American republics faced?
 

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Change in Latin America

• Many Latin American governments patterned their new constitutions after the United States constitution.

The U.S. in Latin America
By 1900, the United States had emerged as a world power. It began to intervene in the affairs of its southern neighbors. As a result of the Spanish-American War (1898), Cuba became a protectorate of the United States. That same year Puerto Rico was also annexed to the United States.

In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt supported a rebellion that allowed Panama to separate from Colombia and establish a new nation. In return, the United States was granted control of a 10-mile strip of land running from coast to coast. There the United States built the Panama Canal, which opened in 1914 and was one of the greatest engineering feats in the world at that time.

The Monroe Doctrine and Roosevelt Corollary
In 1823 President James Monroe declared that Europeans may not interfere in the affairs of any nation in the Western Hemisphere. His intent was to protect U.S. interests in Latin America by discouraging further European colonization. In 1904 President Theodore Roosevelt took the policy a step further. At the time, European powers threatened to send warships to Santo Domingo to collect debts owed them. In a statement that became known as the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, Roosevelt claimed that the United States could intervene in any Latin American nation guilty of “chronic misconduct” (such as the inability to repay debts). The United States then took control of debt collection in the Dominican Republic.

American Investments
American investments in Latin America soon expanded, as did the resolve to protect those investments. Beginning in 1898, U.S. military forces were sent to Cuba, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic to protect American interests. Some expeditions stayed for years. U.S. Marines were in Haiti from 1915 to 1934 and in Nicaragua from 1912 to 1933. Increasing numbers of Latin Americans began to resent this interference from the “big bully” to the north.

Revolution in Mexico
In some countries, large landowners supported dictators who looked out for the interests of the ruling elite. Porfirio Díaz, who ruled Mexico between 1877 and 1911, created a conservative, centralized government. The army, foreign capitalists, large landowners, and the Catholic Church supported Díaz. All these groups benefited from their alliance with Díaz. However, growing forces for change in Mexico led to a revolution.

During Díaz’s dictatorial reign, the wages of workers had declined. Ninety-five percent of the rural population owned no land, whereas about 1,000 families owned almost all of Mexico. A liberal landowner, Francisco Madero, forced Díaz from power in 1911. The door to a wider revolution then opened.

Madero made a valiant effort to handle the revolutionary forces at work. He put some of the best officials in his administration, and he sought a balance in dealing with foreign interests. However, his efforts proved ineffective. The northern states were in near anarchy as Pancho Villa’s armed masses of bandits swept the countryside. The federal army was full of hard-minded generals who itched to assert their power. Even the liberal politicians and idealists found fault with Madero for not solving all of the country’s problems at once.

Madero’s ineffectiveness created a demand for agrarian reform. This new call for reform was led by Emiliano Zapata. Zapata aroused the masses of landless peasants and began to seize and redistribute the estates of wealthy landholders. While Madero tried to reach an agreement with him for land reforms, Zapata refused to disarm his followers. Between 1910 and 1920, the Mexican Revolution caused great damage to the Mexican economy. Finally, a new constitution was enacted in 1917. This constitution set up a government led by a president. It also created land-reform policies, established limits on foreign investors, and set an agenda to help the workers.
 

Constitution of 1917

• established a federal government, with separation of powers and a bill of rights 
• limited president’s term in office 
• granted universal male suffrage 
• gave workers the right to form unions 
• set a minimum wage and maximum hours 
• prohibited pay discrimination based on race, ethnicity, or gender 
• established a social security system 
• stated that Mexico’s natural resources belong to the Mexican people, not to foreign investors 
• limited foreign land ownership 
• restored lands to Native Americans

The revolution also led to an outpouring of patriotism throughout Mexico. National pride was evident, for example, as intellectuals and artists sought to capture what was unique about Mexico, with special emphasis on its past. 

Prosperity and Social Change
After 1870, Latin America began an age of prosperity based to a large extent on the export of a few basic items. These included wheat and beef from Argentina, coffee from Brazil, coffee and bananas from Central America, and sugar and silver from Peru. These foodstuffs and raw materials were largely exchanged for finished goods—textiles, machines, and luxury items—from Europe and the United States. After 1900, Latin Americans also increased their own industrialization. They built factories to produce textiles, foods, and construction materials.

One result from the prosperity of increased exports was growth in the middle sectors (divisions) of Latin American society. Lawyers, merchants, shopkeepers, businesspeople, schoolteachers, professors, bureaucrats, and military officers increased in numbers. After 1900, these middle sectors of society continued to expand.

Middle-class Latin Americans shared some common characteristics. They lived in cities and sought education and decent incomes. They also saw the United States as a model, especially in regard to industrialization. The middle class sought liberal reform, not revolution. Once they had the right to vote, they generally sided with the landholding elites. 

What caused the growth of a middle class in Latin America?
 

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