Prompt: Which Latin American Independence Movement was most successful in terms of achieving its original goal?
If success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose and a goal is defined as an aim or desired result, then, in the context of the Latin American Independence movements, Brazil was more successful in achieving the original goals of their movement, being independence from Portugal, open direct trade, popular sovereignty in the form of a republic, freedom of information, and equality before the law, in comparison with that of Haiti, being the abolition of slavery and measures towards equality, because of the manner in which they (1) created (for independence or revenge), (2) …show more content…
In Brazil, the support given to the movement came in more intellectual forms, as the development of the periodical press and new ideology that followed the philosophy of enlightenment formed a separation between Brazil and its mother country, Portugal (Barman 31). With their growth in sophistication of their political outlook, Brazil also gained, as consequences of the press, their “public mind's sense of independence, a proper consciousness of its own importance, and a determination to support the new dignity” (Barman 44). As the intellectual minds of the people of Brazil flourished, so did support for Brazil’s Independence as a rift grew between the ideals of the Brazil and its mother country (Barman 38). Some of this change originated from the inflow of foreigners of “every calling and social rank” into the port cities of Brazil as they acted as “agents for new ideas and as suppliers of the latest literature, both cultural and political (Barman 56). For Brazil, the freedom to think and publish thoughts was necessary to economic growth, especially the press (Macaulay 89). It is also said that “anonymous posters were appearing on walls in Rio calling for the independence of Brazil under a liberal regime with Dom Pedro as emperor” (Macaulay 105). The success of Brazil needed the influence of the media and the support of its people if it were to gain its independence. In Haiti, the revolution took a more brutal form and the revolt needed the support of its people, the slaves, in a much different manner. The racial diversity of Saint Domingue, now Haiti, was considered a “melting pot of contrasts in which various irreconcilable forces were bound in the end to flare up into a vast conflagration” (Alexis 21). This tension was not only