Isn’t It Ironic? (Don’t You Think?)

1. Isn’t It Ironic? (Don’t You Think?) A Snowy Road… …to talk about Latin America No Frills, No Tricks, Just Notes Chapter 15 Section 4

2. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! • No Snow in Latin America though (but maybe here soon enough!) • Latin American society was rooted in a tiered system of haves and have-nots

3. Problems of the Past • Native Americans suffered economic misery under the Spanish; the Spanish conquered the lands of their ancestors • In the Caribbean and parts of South America, many Africans were enslaved on plantations • One of the only common threads between the classes was their dissatisfaction with Spanish rule • They worked together vs. the Spanish • Once independence was gained, the creoles dominated the gov’t

4. Creolin’ Right Along… • The Creoles took the lead in the revolts • Spread Enlightenment thinker viewpoints throughout Latin America • Watched colonists in N. America throw out the British • The Creoles even had the Declaration of Independence and Constitution translated to their language • Women were participants in the movement • Napoleon conquering Spain in 1808 sparked revolution because Spain was then viewed as weak

5. We Will Be Enslaved No More! • Haiti was France’s most valued possession in the 1700s • Haiti was no longer a French possession by the early 1800s • Half a million enslaved Africans worked on sugar plantations • The slaves were overworked and underfed • There were also 25,000 free mulattoes, some of whom owned slaves, but they did not have full equality with the French Creoles

6. We Will Be Enslaved No More! • France was talking about ending slavery in the West Indies after the French Revolution • Slaves wanted action while the French were talking about liberty and equality • Led by self-educated former slave Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Haitian slaves sprang into action • The war went on from 1791 to 1798 with the Haitian slaves fighting the French, the Spanish, the British, and some loyal Mulattoes • Why would the British and Spanish send troops to fight the Haitian rebels?

7. VICTORY! • By 1798 the enslaved Haitians were freed • Even though Haiti was still a French colony, Toussaint’s forces controlled most of the island • When Napoleon came to power in 1802, he sent a large army to reconquer Haiti • Toussaint got his people to take up arms once again • The Haitians were victorious, due in large part to yellow fever attacking the French • In April 1802, the French agreed to a truce with the Haitians • Just after the truce, the French captured Toussaint and took him to France in chains where he died ten months later • The Haitians declared independence in 1804, fought the French until Napoleon pulled his troops out (because of yellow fever) and became a republic in 1820

8. Will It Work in Mexico? No… • Father Miguel Hidalgo tried to get Mexicans to overthrow the Spaniards at a rousing sermon in church • Originally, Hidalgo was able to get poor mestizos and Native Americans to fight but as the opposition grew, the rebels lost • Hidalgo was captured and executed a year after the “Grito” speech and his followers scattered • Jose Morelos took up the Mexican revolutionary cause for four years before he was shot and killed in 1815

9. Will It Work In Mexico? Yes! • Things died down until 1820 when liberals in Spain forced the king to issue a constitution • This move alarmed Agustin de Iturbide, a conservative creole in Mexico • He feared that the new Spanish government might impose liberal reforms on the colonies as well • So Iturbide reached out to Mexican revolutionaries in 1821 and they overthrew the Spanish viceroy • Mexico was independent • Iturbide took the title of Emperor Agustin I • Soon after though liberal Mexicans toppled Agustin and set up the Republic of Mexico