Revolts in Latin America
“I swear before God and by my honor never to be
idle nor my soul to rest until I have broken the
chains that bind us to Spain.” –Simon Bolivar
Discontent Fans the Fire
• Discontent in Latin America was rooted in the social, racial, and
political system that emerged during 300 years of Spanish rule.
• Social (classes) and Ethnic structures cause resentment.
Peninsulares
-Members of the highest
social class.
-Dominated political/social
life.
-Held top government jobs
and the Church.
Creoles
-Owned the haciendas,
ranches and mines.
-Resented their second
class status.
-Merchants were
concerned with
mercantilist policies that
tied the colonies to Spain.
Mestizos/Mulattoes
Native Americans
-Were people of Native
American and European
descent-were angry at
being denied status,
wealth and power that
were available to whites.
-Native Americans
suffered economic misery
under the Spanish, who
conquered their lands.
Mestizos
Mulattoes
The Enlightenment Inspires
Latin Americans
• In the 1700s educated creoles read
the works of Enlightenment thinkers.
• Translations of the Declaration of
Independence and the U.S. Constitution
circulated among the creole elite.
• Simon Bolivar, a young creole, traveled
in Europe during the French Revolution.
He was inspired by the ideals of “liberty,
equality, and fraternity.”
• Many creoles were still reluctant to act.
Napoleon Invades Spain
• Widespread rebellion finally occurred in
Latin America after Napoleon’s invasion
of Spain in 1808.
• Napoleon ousted the Spanish king and
placed his brother, Joseph Bonaparte on
the Spanish throne.
• In Latin America, leaders saw Spain’s
weakness as an opportunity to reject
foreign domination.
• They now began to demand
independence from colonial rule.
Hispaniola
pg. 157
Slaves Win Freedom for Haiti
• Revolution had erupted in the French-ruled
colony of Hispanolia (Haiti).
• French planters owned very profitable sugar
plantations worked by nearly a half million
enslaved Africans.
• The slaves were overworked and underfed.
• Embittered by suffering and inspired by the talk
of liberty, the island’s slaves rose up in a
revolt in 1791.
• The rebels were fortunate to find an intelligent
and skillful leader in Toussaint L’Ouverture,
a self educated former slave.
• Although untrained, Toussaint was a brilliant
general and inspiring commander.
Haiti Wins Independence
• France, Spain, and Britain all sent armies against Toussaint’s rebel armies.
• The fighting took more lives than any other revolution in the Americas.
• By 1798, slavery was finally abolished, as Toussaint’s forces controlled most of
the island.
• In 1802, Napoleon sent a large army to reconquer the former French colony.
Toussaint’s army was ready to fight.
• In April, 1802, the French agreed to a truce, but then captured Toussaint and
carried him in chains to France where he died a year later in a cold mountain
prison.
• Finally in 1803, the French surrendered after yellow fever was destroying their
army (nearly 80% = 48,000 soldiers died).
• In 1804, the island declared itself independent, under the name Haiti.
• However, rival Haitian leaders fought for power in the following years.
• In 1820, Haiti finally became a republic.
Toussaint and his Slave Rebels
Mexico and Central America Revolt
Father Hidalgo Cries Out for Freedom
• Father Miguel Hidalgo, a creole Catholic priest, presided over the poor rural
parish of Dolores, Mexico.
• On September 15, 1810, Hidalgo rang the church bells summoning the people
to prayer.
• When they gathered, he surprised them with an urgent appeal, “My children,
will you be free?”
• Hidalgo’s speech became known as “el Grito de Dolores”-the cry for Dolores.
• It called for Mexicans to fight for freedom! Si Se Puede!
• A ragged army of poor mestizos and Native Americans marched to the
outskirts of Mexico City.
• Creoles rejected Hidalgo’s call for an end to slavery and his reforms to
improve conditions for Native Americans.
• The rebels faced a growing opposition and less than a year after he issued “el
Grito”, Hidalgo was captured and executed!
• His followers scattered away.
Father Miguel Hidalgo is Executed
Father Jose Morelos Continues the Fight
• Father Jose Morelos, a mestizo
priest picked up the revolution.
• Morelos wanted to improve
conditions for the majority of
Mexicans, abolish slavery, and
give the vote to all men.
• For four years, Morelos led rebel
forces.
• He was captured and shot to
death in 1815.
Mexico Wins Independence
• In Spain in 1820, liberals forced the king to issue a constitution.
• Agustin de Iturbide, a conservative creole in Mexico, feared that the
new Spanish government might impose liberal reforms on the
colonies as well.
• Iturbide spent years fighting Mexican revolutionaries.
• Suddenly, in 1821, he reached out to the creoles, mestizos and Native
Americans and they fought together to overthrow the Spanish
viceroy.
• Mexico was independent.
• Iturbide took the title, Emperor Agustin I.
• Soon, liberal Mexicans toppled the would-be monarch and
established the Republic of Mexico.
Agustin de Iturbide
Revolution Ignites South America
1. What was Simon Bolivar’s daring plan to defeat the Spanish in
Venezuela and win independence?
2. What was Simon Bolivar’s nickname?
3. What two countries did Jose de San Martin liberate from Spanish
colonial rule?
4. What did Bolivar want to do with the lands he freed? What was
it called?
5. Why was Bolivar frustrated before his death in 1830?
6. What did the Portuguese Royal Family do when Napoleon
invaded Portugal?
7. Who did the king leave in power after he returned to Portugal?
8. What did the emperor of Brazil accept?
9. How long did Brazil remain a monarchy?