AP World History
Latin America 1750-1914
Latin America 1750-1914: Revolution and the Challenges of State-Building that Followed
Basics about Latin American Independence
Haitian Revolution 1790s: A Unique Case—Why??
Causes—brutal regime; events in France creating opportunity
Goals—true political and social change
Outcome—successful independence; What were the problems once independent?
Revolution in Spanish South America 1810-1825
Led by the Creoles—impact on causes and goals…HOW??
Causes
o How did the Enlightenment contribute?
o How did the success of American Revolution contribute?
o How did the French Revolution help make revolution in Latin America possible?
Goals
o
o
o
independence from Spain
economic freedom—why?
LIMITED social change—what changes?
Outcome
o successful independence from Spain
even when Spain considered reestablishing control in the 1820s
why?
British support for new South American countries—why??
US support—Monroe Doctrine (1823)
Why was this less important than British support?
o power to Creoles
o republican government
o HOWEVER—even though independence was achieved there were challenges faced in the state-building
that followed. Be prepared to discuss the following challenges:
 political fragmentation
 rise of caudillos
 economic imperialism/neocolonialism
Events
How did the actions of Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin contribute to the independence movement?
Brazil
Know how Brazil became independent and how it was different from the rest of South America
How was Brazil affected by the Haitian Revolution?
How was Brazil affected by the French Revolution?
How was the government of independent Brazil different from that of the other newly independent countries in
South America?
How was newly independent Brazil similar to the other new countries in S. America?
Note that Brazil was the last of the countries in the Americas to abolish slavery—in the 1880s . WHY?
Issues Faced in State-Building in Latin America in the 19th Century
Two Cases—Mexico and Argentina
Mexico
Independence
Hidalgo and Morelos—champions of native & mestizo causes
Goals—much greater economic and social reform than in South American revolutions--including land
redistribution and social equality
What happened? Both men were captured and executed by the creole forces. Leadership of the independence
movement then went to Iturbide—a creole—so in the end the independence movement in Mexico
was similar to the movement in South America…similar goals and similar outcome (even though
Mexico was a monarchy for a short after independence…it ended up a republic by the 1820s also)
By the 1830s—the Central American nations broke away from Mexico so there was political
fragmentation in Middle America too
Constitution of 1824—you should know the details about this!
o Along the lines of the French and US constitutions and those established in S. Am. countries
 Established federalism
 civil rights guaranteed
 BIG problems ignored—land redistribution, status of natives, problems of education
Ignoring these problems created widespread poverty in the new country of Mexico
Mexico suffered from the centralist-federalist debate that plagued many of the new Latin American countries.
This debate created instability in the government and contributed to the rise of caudillos
Foreign Intervention—a problem in Mexico
 US—Monroe Doctrine, Manifest Destiny….US and Mexico on a collision course
Issues over Texas led to the Mexican American War (1848). Mexican loss in this war led to loss
of territory (US gained much of its SW territory as a result of this war) and created a relationship
of mistrust between the US and Mexico
 BUT also contributed to growing sense of Mexican nationalism and a renewed focus on internal
problems and the La Reforma movement of the 1850s
 Result—new constitution established in 1857
Mexico 1850s-1870s
The new constitution in 1857—limited the power of the military and the Church. Hopes for land redistribution that
had risen with the reform movement were not realized.
o Under the leadership of Benito Juarez
 Conservative factions were unhappy with the changes of the new constitution so there was civil
war. Juarez responded with more radical reforms, but the conservatives turned to Napoleon III of
France for support. He sent Maximilian (the Hapsburg husband of his granddaughter) and the
French army to intervene in 1862 (Why no US response? This was a violation of the US Monroe
Doctrine, but US was involved in its own Civil War at this time)
 Maximilian (with the backing of the French army) was the emperor of Mexico for a few years.
He actually had to compromise between the liberals and conservatives in ruling , but when the
American Civil War ended in 1865 the US challenged the presence of French troops in Mexico.
Napoleon III withdrew the French army. Maximilian was overthrown and executed and Juarez
resumed power. His rule was more autocratic thinking he had to be in order to maintain control.
He did try to pursue liberal goals, but he wasn’t around long enough to really achieve them.,
Mexico Under Porfirio Diaz
Elected president in 1876…he dominated Mexican politics for the next 35 years…a caudillo
o Government—outwardly democratic but with an emphasis on stability, his power was backed by the
military. Rebellions were suppressed and a strong central government was imposed on the people
o Much emphasis on economic growth
 Railroad system built (with much foreign investment)
 Some industrial development—but to what extent? (and again with much foreign investment)
 Overall there was some modernization in Mexico under Diaz (typical of the “Great Boom” in Latin
America 1880-1920), BUT the financial benefits of this economic growth went to the creoles and to
foreign investors.
 There was little improvement for the poor—so there was great discontent and unrest. Diaz and the
government responded with repression.
 REVOLUTION—1910: this sets the stage for Mexico in the 1914-present so we’ll look at it in
detail later.
Argentina—note that Argentina rose to prominence a little later because it was not a mining center or a center of sugar
production. Agriculture was the basis of its wealth (but not sugar plantations)
Part of the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata in 1816
This region split up—representative of the political fragmentation that followed independence in South America.
Each region was led by local caudillos
Argentina 1820s—domination by liberals and centralized government
o Reforms instituted: education, finance, agriculture, immigration
o Public land sales led to development of cattle ranches and a powerful class of ranchers
o Conservative Backlash—liberals out of power 1831
Conservative rule of Juan Manuel de Rosas (caudillo?)
o Supported by the ranchers; also championed the urban poor
o Established a federalist government granting more local autonomy
o Cattle ranchers gained at the expense of peasant natives
o Seen as a nationalist because he pushed for resistance to economic pressure from Britain and France
o In order to maintain power, he had to resort to repression. As a result he was driven from power in
1852—by other caudillos, non-ranchers, and Liberal exiles. A decade of fighting followed
1862-Argentine Republic established
Fighting factions compromised; new unified nation emerged
o New period of prosperity and economic growth
o Series of liberal presidents who instituted reforms (along the lines of La Reforma in Mexico)
o Domingo Sarmiento (a rival of Rosas) established political stability which led to increased foreign
investment and in turn a growing Argentine economy and increasing prosperity
Argentina also experienced a “boom” 1880-1920
o Population growth—3x
 Large number of European immigrants (Italians and others…Europeanization on Argentina) because
of many job opportunities and good wages
 Much growth of Buenos Aires
o Government had revenue coming in that allowed it to fund education and transportation improvements
o There was a rising sense of Argentine nationalism due to growing prosperity and a war with Paraguay. There
was also a defeat of the natives in the South who had always resisted the development of cattle ranching and
large scale agriculture there. It was the natives and the gauchos (cowboys) who were marginalized by the
economic growth and changes in Argentina
o 1870-90: Argentine trade increased by 5% a year
 Attracted much foreign investment in the Argentine economy...especially British investment. This
paid for industrial development and transportation improvements but also contributed to foreign
intervention
 A technological improvement that was key to economic development in Argentina—the refrigerated
ship which allowed them to export fresh beef
 Economic expansion led to the growth of the working class (who made a descent wage but were not
part of the elite in society and did not have a real voice in the government)
Political problems for the Argentine government in the early 20 th century
o Working class increasingly sought its own political voice via the Socialist Party. The more radical
workers turned to anarchism. Strikes and violence resulted, and the government responded with
repression. This in turn led to even more unrest and a government crackdown after 1910
o At the same time an emerging middle class was pushing for more democratic rights
o 1912—reforms brought a secret ballot and universal male suffrage which in turn led to a push for even
more reform, but the creoles (Stearns refers to them as the oligarchy) and the middle class joined forces to
stop these reforms
What was the relationship between the United States and Latin America during the 1750-1914 period?