Was Liberalism Good for Latin America
Jaime Morales
History 215-AVN
Berenberg
11/7/12
Was Liberalism good for Latin America? To truly identify if liberalism was good for Latin America, we must understand what liberalism means, where it came from, and how it started. What is liberalism? Liberalism is a political force that transpired during the 1600s and 1700s. For the most part, liberalism transpired in England and France. What did liberalism represent for Latin Americans during the 1850s and 1920s? Liberalism signified change but most of all progress. "Reason over faith, universal over local values, free market over government control, equal citizenship, and finally representative democracy over all other forms of government." (Chasteen) These are the core principles that liberals were trying to integrate during the post-colonial period. Although liberals had failed to integrate these principles during the post-colonial period, they got a second chance after 1850. In this dissertation, I will provide specific changes that liberalism brought to Latin America. The countries I will focus on will be Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
Liberalism in Argentina In 1816, Argentina officially declared their independence from Spain. For several decades after, Argentina was heaved into a sequence of devastating civil conflicts, culminated under brutal tyrant Juan Manuel de Rosas, a conservative. During Rosas reign, two of the most important liberal leaders, Juan Bautista Alberdi, and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, spent many years in exile. While in exile, they made their way to Uruguay and Chile. Both men were literarily gifted. Enraged at Rosas, they took their fury and put in into literature. Their lives epitomized the liberal fascination of European culture and liberalism's close relation with written culture; such as books, education and newspapers. "Wanting more than just progress, Argentine liberals dedicated themselves to transforming the Argentine people - culturally, through education, and physically,
History 215-AVN
Berenberg
11/7/12
Was Liberalism good for Latin America? To truly identify if liberalism was good for Latin America, we must understand what liberalism means, where it came from, and how it started. What is liberalism? Liberalism is a political force that transpired during the 1600s and 1700s. For the most part, liberalism transpired in England and France. What did liberalism represent for Latin Americans during the 1850s and 1920s? Liberalism signified change but most of all progress. "Reason over faith, universal over local values, free market over government control, equal citizenship, and finally representative democracy over all other forms of government." (Chasteen) These are the core principles that liberals were trying to integrate during the post-colonial period. Although liberals had failed to integrate these principles during the post-colonial period, they got a second chance after 1850. In this dissertation, I will provide specific changes that liberalism brought to Latin America. The countries I will focus on will be Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
Liberalism in Argentina In 1816, Argentina officially declared their independence from Spain. For several decades after, Argentina was heaved into a sequence of devastating civil conflicts, culminated under brutal tyrant Juan Manuel de Rosas, a conservative. During Rosas reign, two of the most important liberal leaders, Juan Bautista Alberdi, and Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, spent many years in exile. While in exile, they made their way to Uruguay and Chile. Both men were literarily gifted. Enraged at Rosas, they took their fury and put in into literature. Their lives epitomized the liberal fascination of European culture and liberalism's close relation with written culture; such as books, education and newspapers. "Wanting more than just progress, Argentine liberals dedicated themselves to transforming the Argentine people - culturally, through education, and physically,