193

9

Decolonization and the

Search for National

Identities, 1821–1870

FOCUS QUESTIONS

• How did the wars of independence affect the landed aristocracy, the military,
  and foreign dependence?


• What were the economic and social roots of caudillismo?


• What were the principal differences between Liberals and Conservatives in
  early-nineteenth-century Latin America?


• How did the liberal ideas of the Mexican Reforma change?


• How was Paraguay’s early-nineteenth-century development different from
  Argentina’s?


• How did foreign interventions and class, racial, and ethnic confl icts shape the
  development of early-nineteenth-century national identities in the United
  Provinces of Central America?

NDEPENDENCE DID NOT bring Latin Amer-
ica the ordered freedom and prosper-
ity the liberators had hoped for. In
most of these newly emerging states, decades of
civil strife followed the passing of Spanish and Por-
tuguese colonial rule. Bolívar refl ected the disillu-
sionment of many patriot leaders when he wrote
in 1829, “There is no good faith in America, nor
among the nations of America. Treaties are scraps
of paper; constitutions, printed matter; elections,
battles; freedom, anarchy; and life, a torment.” The
contrast between Latin American stagnation and
disorder and the meteoric advance of the former
English colonies—the United States—intensifi ed
the pessimism and self-doubt of some Latin Ameri-
can leaders and intellectuals.

The Fruits of Independence

Frustration of the great hopes with which the

struggle for liberation began was inevitable, for

independence was not accompanied by economic

and social changes that could shatter the colonial

mold. Aside from the passing of the Spanish and

Portuguese trade monopolies, the colonial eco-

nomic and social structures remained intact. The

hacienda, fazenda, or estancia, employing archaic

techniques and a labor force of peons or slaves,

continued to dominate agriculture; no signifi cant

class of small farmers arose to challenge the eco-

nomic and political might of the great landown-

ers. Indeed, the independence wars strengthened

the power of the landed aristocracy by removing

I