Latin America Revolutions Background Worksheet

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Instructions: Read the following article and answer the questions below.
By the late 1700s, the revolutionary fever that gripped Western Europe had spread to Latin
America. There, discontent was rooted in the social, racial, and political system that had
emerged during 300 years of Spanish Rule.
Latin American colonial society was sharply divided into classes based on birth. At the top of the
Spanish American society were the peninsulares (pay-neen-soo-LAH-rays) men who had been
born in Spain. Only peninsulares could hold high office in Spanish colonial government. In this
way, Spain kept the loyalty of its colonial leaders. Creoles, Spaniards born in Latin America,
ranked after the peninsulares. Creoles could not hold high-level political office. But they could
rise as officers in Spanish colonial armies. Together these minority groups controlled wealth and
power in the Spanish colonies.
Below the peninsulares and creoles came the mestizos (persons of mixed European and Indian
Ancestry). Next were the mulattos (persons of mixed European and African ancestry) and
Africans. At the bottom of the social ladder stood Indians. Unlike enslaved Africans, Indians
were of little economic value to the Spaniards. As a result, they were more severely oppressed
than any other group.
In the 1700s, educated creoles read the works of Enlightenment thinkers. They watched
colonists in North America throw off British rule. Translations of the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution of the United states circulated among the creole elite.
Spanish royal officials suppressed actions and ideas that might fuel creole discontent. For
example, Colombian patriot Antonio Narino published a translation of the French Declaration of
the Rights of Man. He was quickly sentenced to exile in Africa. So despite their admiration for
Enlightenment ideas and revolutions in other lands, most creoles were reluctant to act.
The spark that finally ignited widespread rebellion in Latin America was Napoleons invasion of
Spain in 1808. Napoleon ousted the Spanish king and placed his brother Joseph on the Spanish
throne. In Latin America, leaders saw Spains weakness as an opportunity to reject foreign
domination and demand independence from colonial rule.

Questions
1. Who was at the top of the colonial society, what was their background and
privileges?

2. Which group came afterwards and what was their background and privileges?

3. Which three groups were at the bottom? What were their backgrounds and
privileges?
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Latin America Revolutions Background Worksheet

4. In the late 1700s, what type of works did educated Creoles read?

5. What were some names of the pieces of work the Creoles read?

6. How did Spanish royal officials respond and what was an example?

7. What was the spark in 1808?

8. What was the significance of Napoleon putting his brother Joseph on the
throne in Latin America?