Ch. 6.4: Nation Building
in Latin America
Latin America: Mexico, Central America, South
America, Caribbean
I. Causes of Revolutions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ideals of the Enlightenment
American Revolution – showed that rebels
could defeat European gov.
French Revolution
Nationalism***
Social class divisions
A. Social Class Divisions
Upper Class – Aristocracy (20% population)
1.
Peninsulares
•
2.
Born in Spain/Portugal, in the colonies
temporarily for political/economic gain – held
highest offices in gov./church; aristocratic
Creoles
•
Born in & resided in Latin America, but of
European ancestry; wealthy landowners &
merchants; educated in Europe &
Enlightenment ideals
Middle-to-Lower Classes – “common man” (80%)
Mestizos
3.
•
Of mixed European & Indian ancestry;
owned/rented small farms/businesses
Mulattos
4.
•
Of mixed European & African ancestry;
owned/rented small farms/businesses
Africans
5.
•
Mainly plantation slaves; some freed
Indians
6.
•
Indigenous population; legally free, but treated like
slaves
II. Nationalist Revolts
A.
Haiti (formerly Saint
Domingue)
1.
2.
3.
First colony to revolt
(1791 – during French
Rev.)
Slaves & mulattos led
revolt under Toussaint
L’Ouverture (1794-1803)
1804 became
independent nation of
Haiti, after Napoleon’s
failure to re-conquer
B. Creoles Led Other Revolutions
1.
2.
3.
4.
Resented peninsulares positions
Spain controlled trade & required
merchants only to trade w/ Spain
Lack of loyalty to Spanish crown after
Napoleon places brother on throne
Enlightenment ideas
C. South America
1.
Simon Bolivar, creole
a.
Venezuela (Spanish owned)
declared independent 1811;
won it 1821
b.
educated in Europe,
Enlightenment ideas of
Rousseau, Montesquieu,
Voltaire
c.
Wanted to establish a republic
d.
1819 – Bolivar made president
of Greater Colombia (Colombia,
Venezuela, Ecuador, Panama);
later helped free Peru
•
At Guayaquil, met w/ San
Martin, who offered to serve
under Bolivar – rejected offer
b/c San Martin a threat to
Bolivar, but combined forces to
defeat Spanish
•
1828 declared himself emperor
of the new republic of Panama;
almost assassinated the next
night
•
Died poor & hated, yet soon
became hero of independence
Jose de San Martin, creole
2.
a.
b.
c.
•
•
•
•
Fought Napoleon in Spain,
returned to Argentina to
establish ind. monarchy
Argentina (Spanish) declared
ind. 1816
To keep Argentina ind. also
had to liberate Chile (1817) &
Peru (1824 – with army
under Bolivar’s command)
“In the space of 24 hours we
have crossed the highest
mountain range in the world,
overthrown the tyrants and
given liberty to Chile.”
Elected as head of state
(Chile), but declines position
Steps down for the cause of
ind., leaves for Europe in
self-imposed exile living in
proud poverty after his wife
died in Buenos Aires (1825)
Died in 1850 in Europe
3.
Brazil (Portugese owned)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Peaceful revolution
1807 w/ Napoleon’s
invasion of Portugal royal
family fled to Brazil;
returned after Napoleon’s
defeat, but left the prince
as regent
1822 prince proclaimed
independence – Emperor
Dom Pedro I
Only monarchy in S.
America
D. Mexico (Spanish)
1.
1810 rev. led by
Indians & mestizos
under leadership of
Padre Miguel Hidalgo
(Guanajuato)
a.
b.
c.
d.
Believed in ideals of
French Rev.
Got Indian peasants to
revolt “Grito de Dolores”
– Sept. 16
(Independence Day)
Declared an end to
slavery & created social
reforms
Captured & killed by
creole army, 1811
"...... with three such
2.
Jose Maria Morelos
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
Took over rev. after
Hidalgo killed; controlled
most of Mexico by 1813,
except cities
Goals: set up democracy,
tax rich, re-distribute
land to peasants
Killed (1815) by creole
leader, Agustin de
Iturbide
By 1820, creoles &
peninsulares join forces
to overthrow Spanish
rule to ensure preserving
their own power
1821 wins independence;
Iturbide is declared
Emperor, but is forced to
abdicate in 1822. Mexico
becomes republic in
1823. Iturbide is
executed in 1824.
men as Jose Morelos,
I could conquer the
world."---Napoleon
Bonaparte
Iturbide
E. Monroe Doctrine
1.
2.
3.
By the early 1820s only
threat to independence of
L.A. was Concert of
Europe & principle of
intervention
Britain & U.S. favored ind.
due to economic interests,
including trade
1823, U.S. President James
Monroe declared the
Americas were no longer
subject to colonization by
any European powers
The Monroe Doctrine
Positive effects:
► L.A. independence
protected
► Free trade
► After 1900, increase in
exports leads to
growth of middle class;
though still only
5-10% pop. – not a
true “middle class”
The Monroe Doctrine
Negative effects:
► Economically
dependent on &
politically influenced by
U.S. & G.B.
► Trade imbalance:
 Exporting raw materials
–wheat, tobacco, wool,
sugar, coffee, hides
 Importing finished
goods (textiles)
III. Difficulties of Nation Building – Mexico 1833-1920
Rule of the Caudillos
A.
•
1.
Military strong men,
supported by landed elites;
often acted as dictators
Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna
a.
b.
c.
d.
Became president in 1833 &
elected to office 4 times
until 1855; corrupt
Lost Texas in 1835
Defeated in MexicanAmerican War (1846-48)
losing ½ territory to U.S. in
the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, including California
& the Southwest
Fell from power in 1855 &
went into exile for 20 years
B. Benito Juarez & La Reforma, 1861 - 1872
►
►
►
►
1.
2.
A poor, orphaned Zapotec Indian
rises to power
Went to a state-run university &
earned a law degree in 1831
His clients were poor people who
could not have afforded legal
representation.
He built a reputation for honesty,
integrity, & hard work
He was elected to city gov. &
later governor of Oaxaca, where
he worked to make liberal
reforms: “La Reforma”



Land redistribution
Separation of church & state
Educational opportunities

Promoted foreign trade,
infrastructure building,
communication networks & a
national education system
separate from the Church
After a 3-year Civil War in which
conservative land-owners &
supporters of Santa Anna fought
against liberal reformers, Juarez
was elected president in 1861 &
re-elected in 1867
C. Porfirio Diaz & “Order & Progress”, 1876-1910
1.
2.
3.
►
4.
5.
6.
An Indian who rose to power in
the army fighting the French
Supported by army, foreign
capitalists, large landowners,
Catholic Church
Diaz controlled political elections
& offered land, power, or political
favors for support
Terrorized, jailed, or beat any
opposition
Political slogan “Order &
Progress,” but used strong-arm
tactics & remained in power for
25 years
Progress: RR expanded, banks
built, currency stabilized, foreign
investment grew
Downside: wealthy owned more
land, food costs rose, 95% of
population remained poor
farmers, unions illegal, low wages
D. Mexican Revolution, 1910-1920
1911, Diaz forced out of power
by Francisco Madero,
1.
promoter of democracy,
educated in US & France
a.
•
b.
2.
3.
4.
Emiliano Zapata, fought for
Madero in S. Mexico
Focused on agrarian reform:
with support of masses of
landless peasants, he seized
estates of wealthy landowners
Pancho Villa fought in the
North
Madero was assassinated in
1913 by Porfirioista, General
Huerta & the bloodiest period
of the Revolution/Civil War
lasted from 1913-1917
Zapatistas & Villa fought
against Huerta & supported
Venustiano Carranza in his
political aims
Huerta was overthrown in 1915
& Carranza became president
E. Constitution of 1917
1.
2.
Carranza took over the gov &
turned on Villa & Zapata
Carranza revised the Constitution,
& established a presidential
system of gov.
•
•
•
•
•
•
3.
4.
Land redistribution
Gov control of oil
State seized Church land
Minimum wage, right to strike,
labor unions
Equal pay for equal work
Limited women’s rights
Carranza overthrown (he did not
support the reforms) by General
Alvaro Obregon (a Zapatista)
in 1920
Obregon encouraged reforms,
promoted public ed & nationalism
“To unite Mexicans by means of a generous
and broad political policy which will give
guarantees to the peasant and to the worker
as well as to the merchant, the industrialist
and the businessman; to grant facilities to all
who wish to improve their future and open
wider horizons for those who today lack it; to
promote the establishment of new industries,
of great centers of production, of powerful
manufacturies [sic] which will emancipate the
country from the economic domination of the
foreigner... “ (Zapata)
Role of Women in the Mexican Revolution
1.
Intellectuals
►
Intellectual contributions by women
during the Mexican Revolution were
generally by schoolteachers, or
otherwise educated and enlightened
women, and, therefore, of a more
privileged class than many other
revolutionaries. They often endured
hostility, imprisonment, and death
threats in order to express feminist
and revolutionary perspectives.
Dolores Jimenez y
Muro,
Schoolteacher,
Hermila Galindo, Secretary to Carranza:
writer: “called for the
“early supporter of many radical feminist
political
issues such as sex education in the
enfranchisement of
schools, women's suffrage, and divorce.
Mexican women in
She was one of the first feminists to
bluntly state that the Catholic Church was their "economic,
the main obstacle to the advancement of physical, intellectual
feminism in Mexico.”
and moral struggles."
Source: http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~geneve/zapwomen/goetze/paper.html
Juana Belen
Gutierrez de
Mendoza,
Journalist,
“passionately
opposed social
injustice, … also
attacked the clergy
and stereotypes
traditionally
assigned to
women…”
2. Soldaderas: Although they
occasionally fought in battle,
these women generally traveled
with the revolutionary armies to
forage for food, cook meals,
nurse the wounded, wash
clothes, and other services not
provided by the military
3. Female Soldier:
the smaller population of
female soldiers had a very
different role than the
larger group of Soldaderas,
camp followers, or women
otherwise providing support
services to the troops.
Female soldiers, in many
cases, virtually gave up
their identities as women to
Source: http://www.actlab.utexas.edu/~geneve/zapwomen/goetze/paper.html
become combatants
F. New Imperialism
1.
Social Inequality Persists
a. Society dominated by landed elites
b. Land is the basis for wealth, social prestige,
political power
c. System of cheap labor & growth of cash crops
(specialized crops for export)
d. Masses remained in poverty – no land to grow
food crops
IV. Political Changes (in L.A.)
A.
U.S. in Latin America
1.
2.
Spanish-American War
(1898): Cuba became a
protectorate; Puerto Rico
annexed
Panama (1903)
a.
b.
3.
U.S. supported rebellion in
which Panama became ind.
from Colombia
In exchange, U.S. granted
control of land that will
become Panama Canal by
1914
Business investments in L.A.
protected by military – sent
to Cuba, Mexico,
Guatemala, Honduras,
Nicaragua, Panama,
Colombia, Haiti, Dominican
Republic – led to
resentment & anti-
Americanism
Revolutionary Art: Diego Rivera
The Indigenous World, 1929-35 (Mural)
The Flower Carrier, 1935
“I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his
art must plant in his own soil. Great art is like a tree
which grows in a particular place and has a trunk,
leaves, blossoms, boughs, fruit, and roots of its own.
The more native art is, the more it belongs to the
entire world, because taste is rooted in nature. When
art is true, it is one with nature. This is the secret of
primitive art and also of the art of the masters -Michelangelo, Cezanne, Seurat, and Renoir. The secret
of my best work is that it is Mexican”
Frida Kahlo
Las Dos Fridas, 1939.
Self-Portrait with Monkey, 1938.
Diego and
I, 1949.
"...I paint my own reality, The only thing I know is that I paint
because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head
without any consideration...“ –Frida Kahlo
Diego Rivera, Dream of a
Sunday Afternoon in
Alameda Park, 1947-48,
David Alfaro Siqueiros, Echo of a
Scream, 1937, MoMA, NY.
Mexico City. (Mural)
“art must no longer be the expression of individual
satisfaction (which) it is today, but should aim to
become a fighting educative art for all…” -Siqueiros
Jose Orozco, Father Hidalgo, 1937,
Guadalajara.
Jose Guadalupe Posada, Catrina
Calavera, 1910.