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Latin American History Midterm

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Grito de Dolores
Who: Miguel Hidalgo
What: a speech made to his congregation, (mostly Indians) to overthrow the bad government and the Spanish.
Where: Mexico
When: 1810
Signficance: He represented a sentiment that was widespread among Mexican Creoles, but miss calculated the feelings of the Indians against the Creoloes. The Creole leaders of the insurrection saw the Indians rise against all white oppressors. Led to the Guanajuato massacre which signaled an unacceptable direction that the independence movement could not be permitted to take. It threatened the Creoles place in society and thus many Creoles and Spaniards turned on Hidalgo.
Conservatism
Who: Creoles and Spanish elite and the Catholic Church
What: an ideology of how to govern the newly indepedent nations in Latin America
Where: all over Latin America
When: 19th Century
Signficance: in this ideology the proponents wanted to perserve the tradition of the colonial legacy. The Church persistently blocked reforms with its reluctance to share its wealth and power
Simon Bolivar
Who: called the "liberator," played a large role in the independence of not only Venezuela but other Latin American nations.
What: led independence movemtns which championed a strong centrla government capable of dealing with crises. Was one of the first caudillos.
Where: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
When: early 19th Century around 1810-1820
Significance: His movement led to the caudillos in government. Because there was little stability in these new indepedent nations, Bolivar believed and implemented strong executive governments to bring about political stability, this was obtained through strong characters such as the caudillos. They brought legitimacy to an otherwise illegitimate government.
Liberalism
Who: Mestizos and specific Creoles who wanted to break free from the tradition colonial institions like the Church.
What: an ideology supporting the legacy of the enlightenment = freedom of the individual, free market economy (lassiez faire), freedom of and from religion (secular society), education for all, private property. Change is good which means progress and modernization.
Where: Latin America
When: 19th Century
Signficance: led to political instability because it still did not settle the problems of the lower classes. The lands that were to be used to create a middle class were instead bought by already wealthy elites and continued to enslave the poor more in the haciendas. As a result of this instability caudillos began to arise who brought political stability through strong central governments, which tended to not help the poor further and eventually led to revolutions in many countries, especially Mexico.
Caudillos
Who: usually veterans of wars. Military figures.
What: ruled over small clans or vast countries. They were essentially unifiers in vast regions where forces pulled things apart. Politically, economically, and socially they sought to centralize power and control in their hands, and to suppress regional tendencies and to consolidate the integration of their nations as sought by the founders.
Where: Latin America
When: 1st half of the 19th
Significance: During the fragile period after independence in Latin America, there was a search for political order which the caudillos established in a society that was caught between liberals and conservatives. The caudillos had no ideology and therefore were able to become legitimate leaders through force and their establishment of political order which brought progress. Eventually led to ignorance of the difficulties of the lower classes who suffered and a quest for economic development.
Juan Manuel de Rosas
Who: rose to power in Argentina after independence. Rosas was a great landowner in a country where land and cattled formed the twin pillars of wealth.
What: leader of the gauchos. He helped Buenos Aires defend itself against federale armies, thus preserving the estancias and that way of life. Continued the tradition of the Church which represented stability and order. When he rose to power the battles between the autonomists and federalists faded, in comparision to his consolidation of power.
Where: Argentina
When: 1820s-1850s
Significance: helped to set the stage for later economic problems. Because of his strong alliance with the estancias, the principle way to get wealth in Argentina was through cattle ranching, thus thats the only thing country produced. His policies tended to serve to benefit the cattle ranchers and hence ignorned the poor class.
August Comte, Positivism
Who: French philosopher who pioneered modern sociology.
What: brought the idea of positivism = the "scientific" study of socities. He believed in the idea of evolution and prgress --> natural selection. Also began the idea that there is a hierarchy of societies and the most successful ones are better and hence more evolved. This usually meant the whites were better. You aid a society by fixing the needs of the society as a whole and not focusing on the individual.
Where: Latin America
When: Mid to Late 19th
Significance: Latin American intellectuals embraced this idea as they sought to modernize their economies and societies and to break the old colonial patterns that still survived. Also introduced European immigration to "whiten" their societies. They "claimed credit for reforming outmoded political institutions, for bringing about the industrial revolution, for beginning the process of mass popular education, for destroying the traditional power of teh Church, for giving the military professional status, and for modernizing the cities.
Herbert Spencer, Social Darwinism
Who: English philosopher who brought the idea of social darwinism.
What: believed in the idea of natural selection and survival of the fittest. He believed that Protestant (white) socities were better and more far along than catholics who were backwards.
Where: Latin America
When: Mid to late 19th
Benito Juarez
Who: a liberal leader who defeated Santa Anna the caudillo and established a liberal government in Mexico.
What: He attacked the Church and the rights and privileges of both the military and the clergy. This provoked a War of the Reform between liberals and conservatives, in which Juarez and the liberals won.
Where: Mexico
When: 1850s
Significance: the War of the Reform hurt Mexico which had defaulted on its foreign debts thus giving the right of the European powers to intervene and collect those debts, particularly France. Who came in and reestablished an empire with Ferdinand Maximilian. In the long run, his reforms ended up hurting the peasants rather than helping them.
Neo-Colonialism
Who: Latin America and the European Nations, principally England, France, and US.
What: started from the Industrial Revolution in Europe. Europe demanded raw materials and food stuffs for production as was able to find these resources in Latin American exports. Growth however was uneven, only some sectors of society progressed, most did not.
Where: Latin America
When: late 19th Century
Significance:
1. Created a dependent relationship between Latin America and Great Britain/US. What it did was made the Latin American economies monoculture economies = dependence on 1 or 2 exports, no diversity.
2. Lack of government involvement in local industries because imported products that were much cheaper. Thus there was no development of industry in Latin America and they were stuck in cultivation of agriculture.
3. There was foreign control of resources: profits then were going abroad and those who were making money in Latin America were not reinvesting it in the country, thus further contributing to its underdevelopment and poverty.
Gaucho
Who: were cowboys who did the "dirty" work for the caudillos.
What: A necessary asset to the caudillo in terms of personalism --> favor for a favor which helped the caudillo to rise in power.
Where: Latin America
When: 1st half of the 19th
Significance: Besides contributing to the significance of the caudillo, they helped to legitimize the power of the caudillo by helping to establish the caudillo's social and moral superiority. They also helped to centralize the power of the caudillo through military efforts to suppress regional tendencies and to consolidate the integration of their nations.
cientificos
Who: the Mexican postivists
What: emphasized the practical and "scientific" approach to the organization of their world. They looked toward the US for inspiration because they saw a practical and ration people which could be a model for their own development: a way out from anarchy and chaos, and a way toward order and progress. They were advisors to bring progressive poliices of modernization.
Where: Mexico
When: Mid to late 19th
Signficance: look at positivism.
Estancia, hacienda
Who: wealthy landowning elite.
What: large plantations or cattle ranches which enslaved the indigenious peoples and lower classes of society and produced monoculture economies.
Where: Latin America, Estancia = Argentina, Hacienda = Mexico
When: 19th
Significance: look at La Reforma and Neo-colonialism.
ejido
Who: indigenious peoples, indians
What: the communal lands which the Amerindians used to produce for themselves and maintain a subsistance living.
Where: Latin America
Order and Progress
Who: the positivists and liberals
What: the believe that if progress is good, you need order to obtain it. Progress = material wealth. This influences domestic policies.
Where: Latin America
When: Mid to late 19th
Significance: look at caudillos.
Francisco Madero
Who: ran against Diaz in the election in 1910 and lost due to extreme corruption. He eventually started a revolution and claimed presidency but was critized when his government did not do much.
What: issued his Plan de San Luis Potosi which called for "free suffrage and no re-election."
Where: Mexico
When: 1910s
Significance: He started the first revolution of the 20th century and empowered many peasants against Diaz and his cronies. However when he became president his popularity shrank. He insisted on governing with the consent of an unpopular Congress, elected during the Diaz period, which blocked all of his reforms. He appointed conciliatory politicians from the upper class who would not accept the more radical measures pused by Zapata and Villa. His own general Huerto eventually turned on him and Orozco also parted ways.
Terrazas-Creel Clan
Who: a family in the northern state of Chihuahua, who owned a majority of the land.
What: The clan directed much of its wealth into diversified investments, such as banking, railroads.
Where: Coahila, Chihuahua, Mexico
When: Late 19th early 20th
Significance: Clearly defined the haves and have nots in Northern Mexico, who the revolutionaries targeted.
Emiliano Zapata
Who: led the Mexican revolution in the Southern state of Morelos.
What: aimed to take back lands seized by the big sugar concerns and to regain control over village politics. Issues his Plan de Ayala =
1. Madero is same as Diaz, he has turned out to be a dictator and must be disposed of.
2. Madero is no longer the leader of the Revolution
3. Orozco is the new leader
4. Peasants are to take back the land. Want to return to pre-colonial communal ejidos. This was thought as returning the liberal ideals of Juarez, however, ironically Juarez's laws were what took the ejidos away.
Where: Mexico, Southern state of Morelos
When: 1910s
Significance: uniquely expresses the specific desires of Southern Mexico. Was compromised mostly of indigenious peoples who were enslaved under the hacienda system. They were extremely oppressed under the current economic system and hence desired to return to their ways of life which they had been fighting for since independence.
Plan de Ayala
Who: Emiliano Zapata
What: his plan that stated Madero was no longer the leader of the revolution. Orozco became the new leader. The peasants are to take back the land. It wanted strict land reform to allow the indigenous groups to return to the ejidos.
When: 1911
Where: Mexico, Southern state of Morelos
Signficance: look at Emiliano Zapata.
Pascual Orozco
Who: led a powerful military contingent in Northern Mexico in Chihuahua.
What: He was not particularly committed to Madero, but he used the plan to launch his movement. He became the new leader of the revolution after Zapata's Plan de Ayala.
Where: Northern Mexico
When: 1910s
Signficance: shows the failures of Madero in uniting the revolution and instituting reforms when he became president of Mexico after Diaz.
Venustiano Carranza
Who: one of the leaders of the Mexican revolution in Northern Mexico
What: Began to emerge as the leader of the revolution when Huerta took over in the government. He won the approval of the US who with his "constitutionalist" force captured the port of Veracruz halting the flow of arms and revenues to Huerta. He eventually became president but turned on Villa.
Where: Northern Mexico, Coahuila
When: 1910s
Significance: Demonstrates the extremely diversify interests and fighters fighting in Northern Mexico. They were not a consolidated effor desiring one thing unlike the South. Carranza was a political leader while, Villa was a rebel and an outlaw. Carranza seemed to be searching for political gains while Villa was on the side of the efforts of the peasantry and was fighting for the sake of fighting.
Constitution of 1917
Who: Carranza
What: Established three important articles in Mexico:
1. Article 3: secular compulsary public education
2. Article 27: restored illegaly seized ejidos. Private ownership could be revoked if land doesn't serve a useful social function.
3. Article 123: 8 hour work day, 6 day work week, minimum wage, equal pay for equal work, right to organize.
Where: Mexico
When: 1917
Significance:
1. Public education was to be available to everyone and no longer was in control of the Catholic Church.
2. Ejidos were restored to the peasants who were enslaved by the hacienda system. Thus they were in a sense freed.
3. It established workers rights, therefore if the peasants were re-employed by haciendas they were not placed in slave status and had rights that would allow them to get decient pay.

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