Compare and Contrast Essay: Mexican Revolution& Brazilian
Revolution
Lauren Lee
World History Spivey B class
November 14th, 2007
All revolutions that exist or have taken place in this
world are full of the revolution traits that were evidently
pointed out throughout the book, Anatomy of Revolution
written by Crane Brinton. One classification of the
revolution that was mentioned in this piece of literature
was, “A revolution is a drastic, sudden substitution of one
group in charge of a territorial political entity by
another group hitherto not running that government.” Some
revolutions may approach this definition in a varied way.
Many people think that revolutions only cause trouble and
dismay. All the same, have you every considered of a
peaceful revolution? Those two words “peaceful” and
“revolution” may seem ironic together. Nevertheless, there
is a severe illustration that had occurred in the past that
proves the existence of this satirical phrase and the
unique way of approaching a revolution: the Brazilian
Revolution. In addition, I will be comparing the
similarities that were showed among the Mexican Revolution
and the Brazilian Revolution. Due to the reason of proving
that the “peaceful revolution” is still considered an act
of Enlightened citizens fighting for their rights.
To start out, there are three major parts to the
revolution, according to the reading that was in Anatomy of
Revolution: cause, sequences, and the consequences. The
cause of the revolution mostly states the basic ideas on
why and how the revolution sparked. In this case, Brazilian
Revolution, the Portuguese all of a sudden appear out of
the blue to the sacred land of Brazil. They were on their
way from fleeing their country due to the attack of
Napoleon. These unexpected people arrived at the land of
Brazil and unbelievingly they start ruling over the
natives. Of course the Brazilians were baffled by this
action. The Portuguese start taking away the Brazilians’
privileges and rights. To illustrate, the Portuguese banned
the Brazilians from trading with foreigners, growing crops
or manufacturing goods that have the potential to compete
with Spain. In yet another example, if we compare this
event to the Mexican Revolution, even during the Mexican
revolution, the Spaniards, who came to the land of Mexico
without warning started governing over the Mexicans. They
used Mexicans as slaves and they received meager treatment
and had to face the harsh reality. They gathered an
unreliable amount of taxes from the natives, which, in the
end, angered the lower statues and caused the revolt to
take place.
Even better, during the courses of the revolutions,
both the Mexican and the Brazilian Revolutions created a
contract of a constitution that had all the requirements of
the radicals documented on it. At first, the rulers or the
statue who was in absolute power, refused to sign or agree
to the constitution. This lead to more riots and conflicts.
Some revolutions, such as the Mexican revolution, created
bloody wars and fights in order to gain the approval of
their constitution. In other cases, such as the Brazilian
Revolution, they cause no destruction on people’s lives and
they did not carry out bloody wars- they decided to solve
problems “peacefully.” After revolting a little more, the
head of the conservatives decides to sign and be part of
the contract, which leads towards the end of the revolution
and this is the stage in which the radicals’ desires are
fulfilled. In yet another example, the Mexican Revolution
created the Inquala plan: which contained the three
conditions: “One, Mexico would become an independent
monarchy governed by transplanted king Ferdinand. Two,
Creolles and Pennensulars would have equal human rights and
civil liberties. Three, the Roman Catholic Churches could
keep their privileges.” More precisely, the Brazilian
Revolution created a petition that eight-thousand
Brazilians signed, that asked King John to let his son, Dom
Pedro, to rule this country. Eventually, Pedro gave the
independence to the Brazilian, and he led the
constitutional monarchy in Brazil.
Further more, in the end, or in the consequence, it
seems that the rebels achieved what they were enthusiastic
to posses. In much the same manner, both revolutions, the
Mexican and the Brazilian Revolution, had a positive
conclusion. Or in other words, they both gained freedom and
independence, along with the equal rights and privileges
they couldn’t enjoy and taste before. Taking these two
revolutions as an example, you can realize that even a
“peaceful revolution” can have the same results as the
violent revolution- the Mexican Revolution. Even though the
two revolutions went through very similar, but very unique
paths, their results were identical, which is all that
matters in the end and the only thing that is taken credit
for- the fact that the humans are walking towards a more
independent and enlightened thinking process.