Three Syllables! Three Branches of Government!

His name has two s’s in it. His big idea starts with an s, Social Contract.

The Encyclopedia had a great impact on Enlightenment philosophers and later intellectuals who had never had access to the information contained within it before and certainly not all in one place. 

Scholars questioned whether the Earth or Sun was at the center of the solar system, why things fall down instead up, how the human body works, and many other topics in astronomy, anatomy, mathematics, biology, chemistry, and physics. To guide them in their discoveries, scholars followed a new process called the scientific method which emphasized the importance of experimentation, observation, evidence, and working with other scientists to confirm their results. The rebirth of the European economy, start of more universities around the continent where researchers could work, and use of the printing press to circulate new ideas created a community of scholars who built on one another’s achievements to gain a better understanding of the world and push innovation forward. 

Like the artists in the Renaissance, scholars during the Scientific Revolution owed the foundation of their work to Greek, Roman, and Muslim scholars that came before them. Trade between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, and Byzantine scholars who left Constantinople for Italy after the Ottoman Empire conquered it in 1453,  led to the rediscovery of Greek and Roman texts that had been kept in the Middle East during the chaotic European Middle Ages. In addition, Muslim scholars made great strides in science and their ideas were shared with Europeans and contributed to the discoveries made during the Scientific Revolution.  

The Scientific Revolution changed the way that people look at the world and how one finds “truth” and provided later scientists with the tools they needed to make advances in technology that shaped the rest of global history. 

The centers of learning were universities run by the Catholic Church, so most scholarly pursuits involved analyzing the Bible and other religious texts. When scholars explored science, they did so to prove that the Church’s ideas were correct. 

For example, the Church taught that the Earth was at the center of the universe, so those who examined the stars looked for evidence that the sun and all of the other planets revolved around the Earth, rather than following what they observed to a different conclusion. 

Outside of the Church, folklore and superstition guided an understanding of the world for most people. Medicine, for example, was based on the theory of humors. According to this theory, there were four humors, or important fluids in the human body: black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. Medieval doctors believed that for a person to stay healthy they needed to keep a balance between all of the humors. People believed that the humors were produced by specific organs in the body, changed a person’s mood were affected by the weather, and that people with different astrological signs were prone to imbalances in different humors. If someone was sick and the doctor believed they had too much blood, they would cut the person and drain some out of them in a process called bloodletting. Depending on the patient’s symptoms, the doctor let blood out of a different section of the body. 

1789-1799:
French Revolution

1791-1804:
Haiti fights independence war and wins independence from France

1810-1818:
Argentina fights war for independence and wins independence from Spain

1810-1820:
Mexico fights war for independence and wins independence from Spain

1820:
Columbia fights war for independence and wins independence from Spain

1821-1824
Venezuela, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia fights war for independence and wins independence from Spain

The Haitian Revolution was the result of a long struggle on the part of the slaves in the French colony of St. Domingue, but was also initiated by the free Mulattoes [people of both African and European descent] who had long faced the trials of being treated as semi-citizens. There were several slave rebellions in the Western Hemisphere, but the Haitian Revolution was the most successful. This had a lot to do with the influence of the French Revolution. The ideals of the revolution inspired rebellion and the events of the French Revolution gave the oppressed people of St. Domingue an opportunity to rebel. The Haitian Revolution would go on to serve as a model for those affected by slavery throughout the world. 

There were three distinct classes in St. Domingue. First, there were the Whites, who were in control. Then there were the free Mulattoes, who straddled a very tenuous position in Haitian society. While they enjoyed a degree of freedom, they were repressed by the White power structure. For example, free Mulattoes were outlawed from holding office. Mulattoes were allowed to own land but society’s restraints made it highly unlikely that they could profit from it. Next came the slaves who, in Haiti, suffered under some of the harshest treatment found in the Caribbean. Slaves in Haiti were legally considered property and had no rights.

The French Revolution provided the Mulattoes and slaves with an opportunity and an inspiration after having witnessed the successful insurrection in France against the government’s long-standing denial of equal representation of the Third Estate. This was such a revolution in the structure of French society that its news spread like wildfire and was exactly the stimulus the slaves and Mulattoes in Haiti needed to inspire their revolt.

Country: Haiti

Colonial Power Fought: France

Toussaint L'Ouverture was one of the leaders of the Haitian revolution and the first black man to become governor of a colony.
Toussaint L’Ouverture was born into slavery in approximately 1743 in the French colony of Saint Domingue. He belonged to a small and privileged class of slaves employed by masters as personal servants. The Count de Breda, Toussaint’s owner, actively encouraged him to learn to read and write. He developed a passion for books and his readings were to become a great influence in his political life. L’Ouverture was freed from slavery at around the age of 33 and colonial records show that he became a land and slave owner himself.

Toussaint L’Ouverture used this letter to rally the blacks in San Domingo (Haiti), August 29, 1793. 

The French Revolution of 1789 had a powerful impact on Saint Domingue. A complex civil war broke out in 1790 when free men of color claimed that they too were French citizens and should be allowed to enjoy the rights proclaimed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man.

The following year, on August 22, 1791, L’Ouverture was one of the main organizers of a slave revolt that would eventually be known as the Haitian Revolution, the first and only victorious slave revolt in history.

In 1793, representatives of the French revolutionary government in Paris offered freedom to slaves who joined them in the fight against counter-revolutionaries and foreign invaders. The following year these orders were ratified by the revolutionary legislature in Paris, which abolished slavery throughout all French territories. This was a determining factor in L’Ouverture’s decision to join the French army. Under his increasingly influential leadership, the French defeated the British and Spanish forces that invaded Saint Domingue.

Having made himself ruler of the island, L’Ouverture did not wish to surrender power to Paris and ruled Saint Domingue as its own country. In 1801 he issued a Constitution for the island, which provided for autonomy and established himself as governor for life. It abolished slavery and aspired to put in place a multiracial society composed of blacks, whites and mulattos.

When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in France, he aimed to return the Caribbean colonies to their earlier profitability as plantation colonies. In 1802, he dispatched an expedition of French soldiers to the island, led by his brother in law Charles Leclerc, to reestablish French authority and slavery. Leclerc arrested L’Ouverture and deported him to France where he was imprisoned in Fort de Joux and died on April 7, 1803.

For a few months the island remained under Napoleonic rule. However, the French soldiers soon fell victim to weapons and disease and surrendered to the Haitians in November 1803. On January 1, 1804, the colony became the first black republic under the name of Haiti.

In the 1700s, educated creoles read the work of Enlightenment thinkers. Many creoles were sent to Europe to study as well. While there, they were inspired by the ideals of a revolution and national sovereignty or the authority of a state to govern itself or another state.
In 1808, Napoleon invaded Spain, ousted the Spanish king and placed his brother Joseph in control of Spain and its colonies. Many in Latin America saw this as a moment of weakness and an opportunity to reject foreign rule and demand freedom from the colonial crown.

Country: Argentina, Chile, Peru

Colonial Power Fought: Spain

José de San Martín was a South American soldier and statesman who played an important role in winning the independence of several South American countries from Spain. José de San Martín was born at Yapeyú, a village on the northern frontier of Argentina, where his father was an official of the Spanish colonial government. At the age of 7, San Martín returned to Spain with his parents. He entered the Royal Academy as a cadet and was educated there with sons of the nobility of Spain. As a member of the Spanish army, he fought in some of the campaigns against French forces in the Peninsular War (a part of the Napoleonic Wars) and by 1811 had acquired the rank of lieutenant colonel. 

Hearing of the revolt against Spain in his native Argentina, San Martín resigned from the Spanish army in 1812 and sailed for Buenos Aires to join the patriot forces. He took a prominent part in organizing Argentine troops and soon became military governor of the north to organize defense against Spanish troops in Upper Peru. In 1814, he secured the governorship of the province of Cuyo at the foot of the Andes. Here for 3 years he recruited and trained his Army of the Andes, since he believed that Argentina could not be safely independent unless Spanish forces were dislodged from Chile, Peru, and Bolivia. 

In January 1817, San Martín led his army of Argentines and fugitives from Chile over the Andes and surprised the Spanish army in Chile. He made Chile completely free of Spanish troops by May 15, 1818, and began planning for an invasion of Peru. Within a year San Martín was able to occupy the capital, and on July 28, 1821, he proclaimed the independence of Peru from Spain. On August 3rd, he accepted the position of supreme protector of Peru.                             

Country: Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia

Colonial Power Fought: Spain

Simón Bolívar was a Venezuelan military leader who was instrumental in the revolutions against the Spanish Empire. Born into wealth, Bolívar was sent to Spain for his education and quickly got involved in political life in Europe. After France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded Spain in 1808, he became involved in the resistance movement and played a key role in the Spanish American fight for independence. When Napoleon named Joseph Bonaparte King of Spain and its colonies, which included Venezuela, Bolívar joined the resistance movement. The resistance group based in Caracas gained independence in 1810, and Bolívar traveled to Britain on a diplomatic mission. 

Finally, Bolívar returned to Venezuela and began a campaign to take control of that country from the Spanish. He and his followers invaded Venezuela on May 14, 1813. Bolívar was hailed as El Libertador (The Liberator), though civil war soon erupted in the republic, forcing him to flee to Jamaica and seek foreign aid. There he wrote his famous "Letter From Jamaica," detailing his vision of a South American republic with a parliamentary setup modeled after England and a life-long president.  In 1825, the "Republic of Bolivia" was created in honor of the inspirational leader, hailed by many as El Libertador.

Country: Mexico

Colonial Power Fought: Spain

On September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores, Mexico delivered a speech known as the Grito de Dolores ("Cry of/from Dolores") at his church. The event became the start of the Mexican War of Independence (1810-1822) and the Grito de Delores became the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence. 

The events of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had an influence on the Mexican War for Independence as it did in Haiti and other parts of Latin America. In 1808, Napoleon defeated Spain in Europe and briefly took over the Spanish colonies including Mexico, which was then called “New Spain.” In response, the city council of Mexico City rebelled against the new government and some were jailed. Those who were not and others who supported them created small rebel groups in other parts of Mexico

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla who led the Mexican independence movement against Spanish rule in 1810 was a part of one of these rebel groups. Born in May 1753 in Guanajuato, Hidalgo entered the priesthood in 1779. For the next quarter of a century, he performed his duties as a spiritual shepherd, but also read texts on political theory including the works of Enlightenment Thinkers. Hidalgo’s underground independence group read books and discussed emerging ideas on nationalism and political liberty. 

When authorities moved to arrest him, he gathered together his followers and his parishioners and issued the “Grito de Dolores” on September 16, 1810. He quickly gathered an insurgent army that rampaged through central Mexico. His army, made up of almost 90,000 poor farmers and civilians was defeated by well trained Spanish troops and Hidalgo was taken prisoner by the Spanish and executed, but others continued the fight for Mexican Independence. 

Inspired by Hidalgo and other revolutionaries like José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero, and the ideals of the Enlightenment and French Revolution, upper class Creoles who once supported Spain, started to support Mexican Independence. In 1821, an alliance of the Creole upper class, rebel leaders, and the clergy came together led by the general Agustín de Iturbide to drive the Spanish out of Mexico and declared independence on September 27, 1821.