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Document 1: Simon Bolivar, Letter from Jamaica, 1815.
The following is an excerpt from the exiled Venezuelan Simon de Bolivar in Jamaica in 1815.
"States are slaves because of either the nature or the misuse of their constitutions; a people are
therefore enslaved when the government, by its nature or its vices, infringes on and usurps the rights of
the citizen or subject. Applying these principles, we find that America was denied not only its freedom
but even an active and effective tyranny. Let me explain. Under absolutism there are no recognized limits
to the exercise of governmental powers. The will of the great sultan, khan, bey, and other despotic rulers
is the supreme law, carried out more or less arbitrarily by the lesser pashas, khans, and satraps of Turkey
and Persia, who have an organized system of oppression in which inferiors participate according to the
authority vested in them. To them is entrusted the administration of civil, military, political, religious, and
tax matters. But, after all is said and done, the rulers of Isfahan are Persians; the viziers of the Grand Turk
are Turks; and the sultans of Tartary are Tartars. ...
Americans today, and perhaps to a greater extent than ever before, who live within the Spanish system
occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs destined for labor, or at best they have no more
status than that of mere consumers. Yet even this status is surrounded with galling restrictions, such as
being forbidden to grow European crops, or to store products which are royal monopolies, or to establish
factories of a type the Peninsula itself does not possess. To this add the exclusive trading privileges,
even in articles of prime necessity, and the barriers between American provinces, designed to prevent all
exchange of trade, traffic, and understanding. In short, do you wish to know what our future held? –
Simply the cultivation of the fields of indigo, grain, coffee, sugar cane, cacao, and cotton; cattle raising on
the broad plains; hunting wild game in the jungles; digging in the earth to mine its gold-but even these
limitations could never satisfy the greed of Spain."
What is the historical context of the document?
Your answer
What is the point of view?
Your answer
Explain the impact such ideals had on Latin America.
Transcribed Image Text:Document 1: Simon Bolivar, Letter from Jamaica, 1815. The following is an excerpt from the exiled Venezuelan Simon de Bolivar in Jamaica in 1815. "States are slaves because of either the nature or the misuse of their constitutions; a people are therefore enslaved when the government, by its nature or its vices, infringes on and usurps the rights of the citizen or subject. Applying these principles, we find that America was denied not only its freedom but even an active and effective tyranny. Let me explain. Under absolutism there are no recognized limits to the exercise of governmental powers. The will of the great sultan, khan, bey, and other despotic rulers is the supreme law, carried out more or less arbitrarily by the lesser pashas, khans, and satraps of Turkey and Persia, who have an organized system of oppression in which inferiors participate according to the authority vested in them. To them is entrusted the administration of civil, military, political, religious, and tax matters. But, after all is said and done, the rulers of Isfahan are Persians; the viziers of the Grand Turk are Turks; and the sultans of Tartary are Tartars. ... Americans today, and perhaps to a greater extent than ever before, who live within the Spanish system occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs destined for labor, or at best they have no more status than that of mere consumers. Yet even this status is surrounded with galling restrictions, such as being forbidden to grow European crops, or to store products which are royal monopolies, or to establish factories of a type the Peninsula itself does not possess. To this add the exclusive trading privileges, even in articles of prime necessity, and the barriers between American provinces, designed to prevent all exchange of trade, traffic, and understanding. In short, do you wish to know what our future held? – Simply the cultivation of the fields of indigo, grain, coffee, sugar cane, cacao, and cotton; cattle raising on the broad plains; hunting wild game in the jungles; digging in the earth to mine its gold-but even these limitations could never satisfy the greed of Spain." What is the historical context of the document? Your answer What is the point of view? Your answer Explain the impact such ideals had on Latin America.
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