“The Mexican Nation, which for three hundred years has not had its own will, nor the free use of its voice, rises today from the oppression in which it has lived… [The Mexican Nation] solemnly declares, through its Supreme Junta of the Empire, that it is a Sovereign Nation and independent from old Spain, with which, in the future, it will not maintain another union but that of a close friendship, in the terms prescribed by international treaties…”

-Declaration of Independence of the Mexican Empire (1821)

In today's episode, we explore the actual and perceived influence of the American Revolution on Spanish American revolutions.

Topics include:

-the debate over the influence of the American Revolution on subsequent Latin American independence movements

-the history of New Spain (aka Mexico)

-an exploration of the Age of Revolutions in Latin America, beginning with Venezuela in July 1811

-critiques of the claim that the US Declaration of Independence acted as a model for Latin American declarations of independence

-the very different cultural, political, economic, and religious contexts that influenced American and Latin American

-differences in British and Spanish forms of imperial governance, which led to different outcomes for the self-rule of the new United States and the new Latin American nations

-the fact the representative institutions, local assemblies, and democratic cultures did not exist in the Spanish Empire--and were therefore difficult to create after the Latin American independence movements

-a unique aspect of the Mexican insurgency as opposed to the American revolt, namely that the Mexican leaders were conservative Catholic priests, Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos

-the impact of the new liberal Spanish Constitution, the Constitution of Cadiz of 1812, on Spanish America

-the story of Agustin de Iturbide, or Agustin 1, the first emperor of Mexico

-a reconsideration the claim that the American Revolution was influential in Spanish America

The cover image depicts the Congress of Chilpancingo, which issued Mexico's first semi-official Declaration of Independence in 1813.