Question

What role has the United States played in Latin American independence, and in the development of states after independence?

Answer 1

Lets divide the discussion into the two different periods- before the independence of most Latin American countries and after.

Before the idependence of Latin countries-

The indpendence of Latin countries began in 1804 with the independence of slaves of Haiti from France. While it was the beginning, it did not immediately result in other Latin countries gaining independence. From USA's perspective, it didnt matter much (apart from the reprecurssions on her own slave population and the fact that it led France to sell Louisiana to US) and US didnt interfere or react much.

Haiti's independence though, almost ended France's adventures in Americas and Napoleon decided to focus in Europe itself. His resulting invasion of Spain and Spanish defeat (defeat of King Fernando) resulted in the Spanish colonies pondering independence themselves. Because of the invasion the Portugese family also shifted to Brazil temporarily. Later Prince Regent Don Pedro I stayed and declared Brazil's independence and won it in 1823. During this, Mexico won its independence was in 1821.

With the basic history outlined, lets focus on US reaction and role in all this.

Given the roots of her own independence, American public was mostly enthusiastic about these new countries gaining their independece from colinialism. The government, though, saw both benefits and worries. While the government was sure that the independence of these countries was good for the trading benefits for the US, they worried that if a stronger France emerged out of a falling Spanish empire, or that if Britain reasserted her control over this side of the world, it would be adverse for US interests. Remember that by that time, US did not have Florida, Texas, New Mexico (more on this later) and hence, mostly worried about this neighboring territory coming under British influence. For the most part, US was focussed on these areas, especially since Anglo-American war broke out in 1812. US government kept this policy of being more or less neutral for quite some time, dissatisfying both her own public and European nations. But come the end of 1810s, most of the Latin American countries had become independent.

After the idependence of Latin countries-

The independence of most Latin countries put US in a tough situation- it had to make a choice of recognizing these countries (hence angering Spain etc.) or not (against public opinion and angering the newly independent countries). The US wasnt also sure either about the stability of these states and the full success of these revolutions.

But by 1822, it was clear that these new nations were here to stay. Also, a very big new development pushed US to do support these states. The development is discussed below. Here, then, the US announced the most important policy concering these- The Monroe Doctrine.

As said above, there was one very big development that forced US to support these states. It was 'The Holy Alliance' between Russia, Prussia and Austria. What it was that they basically saw these countries gaining indepedence and worried about their own dominions. So they joined hands to support each other whenever any revolution threatened their dominions. To counter this, US announced what is now known as The Monroe doctrine- basically asking European powers to stay away from American for any new colonization and that US wont interfere in local European affairs. This was supported both domestically and by newly independent Latin countries.

But this is only one part. This would not be complete without us discussing the US-Mexican wars and US involvement in these countries in general.

US-Mexican war- Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836. In 1845 US annexed Texas, resulting in US-Mexico war in 1846. Mexico lost and in process US gained the area which now has states of California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and parts of Colorado.

General Interference in Latin America- US has, at various times, interferred in Latin American countries. These include the Spanish-American was of 1898 for Cuban independence (and the treaty of 1903 in which US placed trade restrictions on Cuba) and help in Panamanian revolution in 1903 etc.