8.1 Revolution for Whom?

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• Analyze the social hierarchy of Spanish America
• Discuss the Bourbon reforms imposed by the Spanish Crown on its American colonies
• Explain how European political developments affected Haiti and the Spanish American colonies

The hundred years after 1750 marked a profound restructuring of world power and a host of political and economic changes in the Atlantic world. The French American, Spanish American, and Portuguese American colonists encountered different historical circumstances than those met by their neighbors, the former British colonists who declared their independence in 1776. Nevertheless, they too launched successful bids for independence. The Revolutionary War (1776–1783), the French Revolution (1789–1799), and the Peninsular War (1808–1814) were watershed events that reverberated across South America on inspiring waves of revolutionary upheavals. The diversity of the European American colonial societies meant, however, that revolution promised different things to different people in this vast region.