Spanish America's Struggle For Independence

The Spanish-American War was considered short lived and relatively mild in terms of American casualties compared to the many wars that our nation has fought. However, it served as a historical marker that set the imperialistic momentum of our nation. It played a significant role in our nation’s strategic move towards acquiring trade routes and further strengthened our naval power. Throughout my research paper I will touch on what led to the Cuban revolution against Spain, America’s political climate at the time, and why our nation eventually decided to intervene and aid the Cubans in their fight for independence.

To what extent was Mexico’s independence from Spain a “full-scale assault on dependency”? This essay will investigate how the Mexican independence from Spain was only slightly a “full-scale assault on dependency”, due to several political and social conflicts. Firstly, Mexico remained a monarchy (but not under the control of Spain) after the insurgency. Secondly, there was still an official state religion in Mexico. Another reason is because social conflicts reduced the desire for independence .On the other hand, it assaulted dependency because there were some changes within the social hierarchy, and because Mexico was free from Spain.

Those creoles pushing towards revolution to free themselves from Spanish rule felt that the Spanish crown was only abusing, discriminating and holding them back form growing economically. The elite felt they were not part of a revolution seeing themselves only as people who were All those part of the social context of Latin America, felt differently within Indians, on side of the Spanish King, though great abuse fell through. "Nonetheless, the Indians of New Spain (and elsewhere) enjoyed a set of legal privileges, exemptions, and protection which significantly interferes with their complete integration into colonial society, and kept them in a legal bubble of tutelage ruptured only with the advent of independent Mexican nationhood in the third decade of the nineteenth century (Van Young, 154). The point here is that where these and other legal and administrative remedies were applied in favor of the Indians of colonial New Spain, they were applied in the kings' name. Furthermore, religious and civic ritual of all kinds constantly stressed the centrality of the Spanish king to the colonial commonwealth, and his benevolence and fatherly concern with the welfare of his weakest subjects (Van Young 155). "Situated as they were between the Spaniards and the masses. The creoles wanted more than equality for themselves and less than equality for their inferiors" (Lynch, 44). The creoles discriminated against those in lower classes than themselves.

In the late 18th century, the Spanish monarchy decided to improve the defenses of its empire because of its many military losses in Europe. Because of this, the Spanish Crown was forced to increase revenues. Between 1765 and 1771, Spain sent José de Gálvez on an official tour of inspection of New Spain. He restructured the current taxes and their collection methods..

However, even after gaining independence both regions still had a societal social structure based on race. Social structure seems to exist in many colonies around the world, as demonstrated by the Spanish colony in the Philippines. The Philippines social structure was very similar to the Latin American casta system, except that most americans in Philippines were regarded as high ranking than native asians. Similar to in Latin america, the main revolutionists who fought for independence were the “middle tier” Ilustrados. These Ilustrados, much like Creoles, were educated native Filipinos who played a massive role in Filipino nationalism against Spanish rule. The power and influence of the Ilustrados are yet another example of how many revolutions in history are led by the “mid-ranking social

The lack of “imperial chains” caused the Revolution’s effects, compared to drastic well-known revolutions, to be small (Wood 127). But the quick colonization of America over just a few centuries driven by the motivation of religious freedom and escape from persecution translated to the radical idea of equality and independence in men and later the abolishment of slavery and the support of women’s rights (132, 129). This battle caused America to unify against a common enemy and transformed the landscape of individual colonies to an interconnected continent with radically different social relationships and mindset

captures of the ideas they were fighting for: liberty, equality, and rights.1 News of this overthrowing of the government reached many places, one of those being Latin America. During the colonial period, a great social gap developed between the peninsulares (Spanish people born in

The documents that provide a deep and valuable insight into this topic includes “Colonial Spanish America” by Historian Leslie Bethell (1987) and “The Americas: A Hemisphere History” by Felipe Fernandez-Arnesto (2003). Document 1 portrays the ethnic makeup of the population in 1789, depicting that the majority of the population consisted of Indians and Creoles/Peninsulares. The author portrays this information in order to illustrate the divisions within society, and how the ethnic diversity correlated with a desire for self-governance. This document verifies that is the local and elite population that sparks the idea for revolution, thereby confirming the desire of natives to revolt. During this time period, the idea of revolution/independence was still in its foundational form, and hadn’t reached prominence. However, the dominance of natives and incorporation of elites allowed these ideals to evolve and motivate the population to strive for independence. Document 3 also provides a vital and critical source of information obtained by a historian. The document informs the reader about the results of the wars and the causes of them. He states that the Revolutions occurred as a result of “resentful elites trying to resist the increasing intrusion and interference of their mother countries.” It portrays how the local

“More than by force do they dominate us, by deception” were the words of Latin American revolution leader, Simon Bolivar. The Latin American revolution was a fight for independence from Spain, their mother country. In the colonies people were divided into different social groups. Beginning with the higher-classes the different classes were Peninsulares, Creoles, Mestizos, Mulattos, Indians and lastly slaves. The Creoles, American-born Spaniards, led this revolution for three reasons: desire of political control, to provide protection for their economic interests, and their fear towards social unrest.

Comprised of landowners, lawyers, judges, priests, military officers and public officials, the creole and mazomba leaders of Latin American society found insatiable inspiration from the American and French Revolutions of the eighteenth century, and flooded Latin America with a liberal movement for independent nations. Conservatives, in contrast, sought to preserve the traditions of the colonial period, and the Orthodox rule of both the church and foreign-born royal authorities. Yet Old World flavor soured bitterly in a New World teeming with liberal thinkers and daring rebels. Desiring to surpass Old World peninsular and reinós rulers, creole and mazomba won control over local resources and economic development.

The Spanish - American War started in April 21, 1898 and ended in August 13, 1898. It was a conflict between the United states and Spain to end Spanish colonial rule in the americas. This war was fought in part because a lot of people wanted Cuba to become independent and also because many Americans wanted their country to get a colonial empire. It also was caused the yellow journalism, the De Lome Letter, and the Cuban Rebellion.

"American imperialism in 1898 was not a sudden abandonment of anti-colonial tradition but was a logical extension of commercial expansion, something the US had been doing throughout its history" (SparkNotes: The Spanish American War, 1898-1901,: Effects of the Treaty). President McKinley was not interested in wars of conquest or of territorial aggression. His interest in expansion was "to make the United States first in international commerce and as a means to implement its humanitarian and democratic goals" (Faragher, J., Buhle, M. J., & Armitage, S. H. ,2008, Out of Many, A History of the American People, 6th ed., Vol. 2, p. 561). McKinley would eventually be forced to act in a humanitarian effort for the people of Cuba and to protect

In cities throughout the region, Creole frustrations increasingly found expression in ideas derived from the Enlightenment. Imperial prohibitions proved unable to stop the flow of potentially subversive English, French, and North American works into the colonies of Latin America. Creole participants in conspiracies against Portugal and Spain at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries showed familiarity with such European Enlightenment thinkers as Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Montesquieu, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The Enlightenment clearly informed the aims of dissident Creoles and inspired some of the later, great leaders of the independence movements across Latin America.

1. Three arguments’ that Juan Gines de Sepulveda used to justify enslaving the Native Americans were for gold, ore deposits, and for God’s sake and man’s faith in him. 2. Three arguments that Bartolome de las Casas gave in attacking Spanish clonial policies in the New World were the Indians eating human flesh, worshiping false gods, and also, he believed that the Indians were cowardly and timid. 3. For comparisons that Sepulveda used, in lines 1-7, to express the inferiority of the Indians was their prudence, skill virtues, and humanity were inferior to the Spanish as children to adults, or even apes to men. Comparisons he used to dismiss the significance of the Indians

Ever since the time of Spanish colonial rule, Incans were being treated completely unfairly. And in the late 18th century, Peru began to see the first of its native revolutions under Jose Gabriel Tupac Amaru II in 1780. These uprisings were headed by Indian nobility who showed antipathy towards the Spanish administration as a result of being forced to subject their own people to taxes, unfair market prices, and slave labor. The Incans throughout the time of Spanish colonial rule had hopes for the renewal of their age old empire. However despite at least 100 revolts against colonialism the empire was never revived. (Strong 41)