Nonwhite: The Role Of The French Revolution In Venezuela

In New Granada, Caracas’ city council was composed of Creole elite, like that of many other councils across the Spanish viceroyalty. However, their loyalty to the Spanish crown was put to the test by the invasion of Napoleon in Spain, when he put his brother, Joseph, on the throne. The Creoles refused to acknowledge the authority of their new king. On April 19, 1810, the Caracas city council removed the royal Governor, declared themselves a junta, and declared independence from Spain at a congress of their creation. (Haggerty) A man named Francisco de Miranda assumed leadership and command of their army. Later, a constitution written in December 21, 1811, marked the establishment of Venezuela’s First Republic. Unfortunately, conflict emerged,
The nonwhite masses learned to fight side-by-side with the creoles, making them both equally important to the success of the independence movement. They both recognized the need for each other in order to achieve liberty. Instead of the traditionally subordinate role the nonwhite members of the society played, they became more equal in their shared cause. Many believed it was a mistake to recognize the commoners wishes in the fight, one royalist general believed that "The Problem, Ceballos clearly saw, was to adopt a policy which would win over definitively to the "good cause" the dissatisfied colored masses of the Venezuelan population." (King) The leaders of the independence movement themselves initially refused to acknowledge the importance of satisfying the needs of the masses, and therefore the importance of their support in the fight. The common people had always been seen as just a source of income and resources for Spain, and therefore for all the people in connection with the crown. The creole elite were a force to be reckoned with, and in many ways the masses had become reliant on them for survival, such as in the hacienda economic system. This idea of dependency is one that is seen not only in this place and period in history, but all around the world and throughout time. Author Gordon Wood writes about this idea in The Radicalism of the American Revolution. He sees dependency as a characteristic of a society that is pre-modern, and often fades after a revolution, after which the society is no longer pre-modern. On the American Revolution, he writes that, "The Revolution became a full scale assault on dependency."(Wood) This quote is relevant to the Venezuelan Independence movement as well in that theirs also was an assault on dependency. The Venezuelan Independence movement was a full-scale assault on dependency, because it threatened the existing dependent relationships between indigenous