Spanish American Independence Movements

Wim Klooster is Robert H. and Virginia N. Scotland Chair in History and International Relations at Clark University. He is the author of Revolutions in the Atlantic World: A Comparative History and co-editor of The Atlantic World: Essays on Slavery, Migration, and Imagination.

Alternate Table of Contents: Documents Separated by RegionIntroduction
Background: Ethnicity, Culture, and Power in the Spanish Territories
Early Revolts and Rebellions
The French Revolution and Spanish America
Napoleon’s Invasion of Spain and the Imperial Crisis
The Road to a Constitution
The Constitution of Cádiz
Revolts in New Spain
Creole Ascension in the Río de la Plata
South America’s Southern Theater
New Granada: South America’s Northern Theater
The Perils of Self-Governance
Fernando’s Return
Bolívar’s Success
Peru and San Martín’s Achievement
South America’s Final Battles
Mexican Independence
Central America
Political Renewal
Social Changes
Chronology
Questions to Consider PART 1: PRELUDE
1. Doña Micaela Bastidas to Messrs. Governors Don Baltasar Cárdenas, Don Tomás Enríquez, and Don Mariano Flores, Tungasuca, 15 December 1780
2. Interrogation of José Ortiz, Medellín (New Granada), 21 December 1781
3. Silvestre García, royal councilor, to [Governor Luis de Las Casas], Havana, 9 February 1795
PART 2: IMPERIAL CRISIS
4. Juan Pablo Viscardo y Guzmán, Letter to the American Spaniards, Philadelphia, 1799
5. Napoleon to Joachim Murat, lieutenant general of the Kingdom of Spain, Bayonne, 11, 21, and 26 May 1808
6. Salvador José de Muro y Salazar, Marquis of Someruelos, Proclamation to the Inhabitants of Cuba, Havana, 17 July 1808
7. Memorandum of grievances (Memorial de Agravios), cabildo of Bogotá, 20 November 1809
8. The Superior Junta of Cádiz to Spanish America, 28 February 1810
9. The Governing Junta of Caracas to the Constituted Authorities of All Towns of Venezuela, 1810
10. El Diario Político de Santafé de Bogotá, 18 September 1810
PART 3: INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENTS TAKE OFF
11. Edict of Manuel Abad y Queipo, bishop of Michoacán, Valladolid (Mexico), 24 September 1810
12. Juan Bautista Díaz Calvillo, Discourse about the Ills that Disunity between Overseas and American Spaniards Can Cause
13. Miguel Hidalgo, Proclamation to the American Nation, Guadalajara, 21 November 1810
14. Statement by the Royal Trade Guild of Mexico against American free trade, Mexico City, 16 July 1811
15. Manifesto for the World by the Federation of Venezuela, Caracas, 30 July 1811
16. Speech by José Miguel Guridi y Alcocer, deputy of Tlaxcala (Mexico), in the Cortes of Cádiz, 4 September 1811
17. Act of Independence, Cartagena de Indias, 11 November 1811
18. Manuel Ignacio González del Campillo, bishop of Puebla, to José Maria Morelos, Puebla, 14 November 1811
19. Robert Semple, Sketch of the Present State of Caracas; Including a Journey from Caracas through La Victoria to Puerto Cabello, 1812
20. Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy, Promulgated in Cádiz on 19 March 1812
21. Interrogation and punishment of Francisco Cudina, April–August 1812
22. El Grito del Sud [Buenos Aires], 21 July 1812
23. George Dawson Flinter, A History of the Revolution of Caracas: Comprising an Impartial Narrative of the Atrocities Committed by the Contending Parties, Illustrating the Real State of the Contest, Both in a Commercial and Political Point of View, 1813–14
24. José de Bustamante, governor and captain-general of Guatemala, to the Council of Regency, Guatemala, 3 March 1813
25. Manifesto for the Mexican People by the Representatives of the Provinces of North America, Chilpancingo, 6 November 1813
26. J.P. Robertson and W.P. Robertson, Four Years in Paraguay: Comprising an Account of That Republic under the Government of the Dictator Francia, ca. 1814–15
27. Manuel Belgrano to José de San Martín, Santiago del Estero, 6 April 1814
28. José Miguel Carrera, Proclamation by the Restorative Army to Its Brothers in Concepción, 1814
PART 4: FERNANDO’S RESTORATION, CONTINUED WARFARE, AND INDEPENDENCE
29. José Hipólito Unanue, To the King, Our Lord. The Thinker of Peru, 1815
30. Simón Bolívar, letter from Jamaica, 6 September 1815
31. Rafael Sevilla, Memories of an Officer in the Spanish Army: Campaigns against Bolívar and the American Separatists, 1815
32. Simón Bolívar, decree regarding the emancipation of enslaved people, Carúpano, Venezuela, 2 June 1816
33. Brigadier Francisco Tomás Morales to Pablo Morillo, Ocumare, 15 July 1816
34. Proclamation by Javier Mina, Explaining the Motives for His Expedition, Galveston, 22 February 1817
35. British Foreign Office, “Confidential Memorandum”
36. Bernardo O’Higgins to José de San Martín, Concepción, 30 July 1817
37. H.M. Brackenridge, Voyage to South America, Performed by Order of the American Government, in the Years 1817 and 1818, in the Frigate Congress
38. Decree issued by Bernardo O’Higgins, Santiago de Chile, 3 June 1818
39. Pablo Morillo to Spain’s Ministry of War, Montalbán, 4 July 1818
40. Pablo Morillo to Spain’s Minister of War, Caracas, 20 September 1818
41. Nicolás Cabrera to the militia of free blacks and mulattoes, Buenos Aires, 16 February 1819
PART 5: IMPERIAL DEFEAT AND CONSTRUCTION OF NEW REGIMES
42. J.R. Rengger and M. Longchamp, Historical Essay on the Revolution of Paraguay and the Dictatorial Government of Dr. Francia. Part of the Voyage to Paraguay, 1819
43. Testimony of Juan José García before Antonio Fominaya, governor of Socorro, Socorro (New Granada), 12 March 1819
44. J.P. Robertson and W.P. Robertson, Letters on South America; Comprising Travels on the Paraná and Rio de La Plata, 1819–20
45. Richard Longfield Vowell, Campaigns and Cruises, in Venezuela and New Grenada, and in the Pacific Ocean; from 1817–1830
46. Law adopted by Colombia to confiscate the possessions of Spaniards, 1821
47. Lionel Hervey to the Marquis of Londonderry, Madrid, 27 May 1822
48. Basil Hall, Extracts from a Journal, Written on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico, in the Years 1820, 1821, 1822
49. Francisco María Roca, Friend of the Country or Essays about the Happiness of This Province, 1822
50. Antonio José de Sucre to Simón Bolívar, Yungay, Peru, 25 February 1824
51. Manuel Antonio López, Historical Memories of Colonel Manuel Antonio López, Deputy to the General Staff of the Liberating Army: Colombia and Peru, 1819–1826
52. Gaceta del Gobierno de Lima, 1 January 1825
53. Law issued by Peru’s Governing Council, forcing enslaved people to return to work, Gaceta del Gobierno de Lima, 22 September 1825
54. Constitution of Bolivia, 22 November 1826
Glossary
Select Bibliography
Index