Latin American Liberalism Vs Conservatism

Liberal vs Conservative (Assignment 7) After the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, the Enlightenment period followed, which opened the eyes of those in Latin American societies. People in Latin American began considering liberal ideologies, which clashed with conservative views. Liberals were those that supported little government intervention, individual freedom, public education and economic progress. Conservatives were generally supportive of the church, and disliked state involvement in education, marriages, and other forms of state control. These two different viewpoints were varied from country to country during the period of Latin American independence. First off, liberals were considered to be anti-monarchial and favored the idea of a republic, such as in some countries the idea of federalism was supported, such as Colombia, and in other
countries the idea of a strong central government was supported, such as Chile. They also favored industrialization and trade, such as building railroads that could connect the rest of the country. Liberals believed in education to replace the role of church, and thus wanted to reduce the power of churches in society such as the role they played in registering births and marriages. Support for economic growth, in relation to their desire to build railroads, ultimately meant the use of new territories and extermination of indigenous people. They believed that if the natives did not wish to be modernized, then good, let us just exterminate them. In addition to the extermination of natives, liberals believed that immigration was good, preferably from Eastern Europe such as Germany, so that the mix of Protestant religion would weaken the power of the church, as well as bring in any new technology. Conservatives, on the other hand, had a different viewpoint. They were generally supportive of the church and felt that state involvement in education and marriages should be kept separate. Conservatives wanted to protect their domestic economics and disliked trade due to the flow of ideas that result from it. In fact, they are supportive of tariffs and taxes that can restrict trade. Also, conservatives liked strong central governments as well as church involvement. In relation to the extermination of indigenous people idea that liberals favored, conservatives actually did not completely believe in protecting the natives; rather they believed that the possibility of cheap labor meant greater profits in their agricultural production, and so enslaving them or utilizing them in other ways to be used for profit was generally favored. Conservatives and liberals at times both played roles towards the independence of countries. For example, in Chile the views shifted from liberal to conservative and vice versa After its independence, in fact, Bernardo O’Higgins, also known as the “father of Chilean independence” and became the president, or dictator, of Chile and advocated liberal policies was forced to resign along with his Liberal policies in 1823. Ramón Freire was then the next person to rule, and brought the conservative views back, which was reflected in the Constitution of 1833 with the increase of power in the church and the large land estate owners throughout the country. Seventeen years later, however, a controversy erupted over the role of church and state which lead to Liberals to gain power. From then on Chile developed under the liberal ideology where public education was made free, civil cemeteries replaced catholic cemeteries, civil marriages were made mandatory, and incorporation of new territories was also pursued in the Mapuche southern region. In Guatemala, a similar shift occurred between the conservative views towards liberal. Rafael Carrera was the prominent figure of conservatism in Guatemala, where he was established as the absolute monarchy from 1838 until 1865. His policies of a powerful church were what symbolized the absolute conservative rule in Latin America, which also happened to slip away with his death. What came next was a liberal revolution led by Justo Rufino Barrios in 1871. Following the views of liberals, Barrios severely limited the power of the church and developed an economy with new roads, railways, and telegraph lines. He laid down education and looked for possible foreign investments. Even with his death, the liberal ideology continued with improvements in health, education, the construction of roads and economic development. Liberals and conservatives played roles in the independence of Mexico, Central America, and Brazil’s independence as well.
Mexico was able to achieve independence in 1821 as a result of conservative forces reacting to the liberal reforms that were adopted in Spain. The conservatives acted in order to protect the church and colonial societal structure, which ultimately led to a liberal-conservative conflict. In Central America, liberals attempted to declare independence in 1823, but conflicts made it difficult for a federation to form until there was total military control under General Francisco Morazán, a liberal that supported economic, social, education, and judicial reforms. Brazilian independence was a result of the influence of liberal intellectual Jose Bonifacio de Andrada, who is left to instruct Dom Pedro II, the young emperor of Brazil. Throughout the next 40 years, Brazil developed under seemingly liberal ideas, such as state sponsored European immigration. However, Dom Pedro II and his daughter were exiled due to the lack of patience of liberals about Isabel’s husbands’ monarchical
intentions. There are many reasons why such liberals and conservatives ideas were able to lead to the independence of Latin American countries. For one, liberals were mainly focused with economic progress, which meant using the entire population most effectively to have a productive economy. This is shown in the case of Chile and Guatemala, where the native population was forced to work or else otherwise halting the country’s progress. It was needed to be done in order to increase land for agriculture and increase the supply of labor power. Conservative views, on the other hand, were desired in hopes of maintaining colonial order where peasants were only required to work but allowed to keep their own social structure. However, peasants were not considered potential citizens of their country, rather candidates for conversion by the church. Liberals believed that their ideas gave people the choice to join in progress at the loss of their traditional lifestyle or, if people chose to stay with conservative viewpoint, to continue to live in their poor situation.