218 CHAPTER 9 DECOLONIZATION AND THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL IDENTITIES, 1821–1870
Salvador and its ally Honduras. The war ended
with Barrios’s defeat and exile; there were now
conservative regimes in every Central American
republic. In 1865, Barrios attempted to make a
comeback, but he was captured and executed by
his enemies. Carrera died in the same year. With
his death, the violence-fi lled formative period of
Central American history came to an end.
Clearly, the wars of independence failed to ef-
fect major changes in colonial economic and social
structures in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Central
America. In the diffi cult process of decolonization,
these young republics faced extraordinary obsta-
cles, including regionalism, economic stagnation,
and political instability, that challenged the capac-
ity of each to create a distinctive national identity.
The republican political systems adopted by these
new states functioned in practice very differently
from the political theory that informed them. A
conservative-liberal cleavage, with its roots in
the confl icting interests and ideals of various elite
groups, dominated political, economic, and cul-
tural life. Although these same elite confl icts also
characterized the experience of decolonization and
the postcolonial reconstruction of national iden-
tities in Brazil, Cuba, Peru, and Gran Colombia,
popular opposition to slavery and the demand for
freedom decisively shaped the process there.Go online for additional
resources:
Primary sources
ACE self-test quiz
Chapter summary
Flashcards
Suggested readings