Essay: The American Revolution

The American Revolution established a framework of revolt that countries throughout the Americas, desiring independence from an overpowering mother country, would follow. The Revolution marked the transition from a state of dependence on the mother country to a state of independence in social, political, and economic aspects. Gordon Wood referred to the American Revolution as a  “full scale assault on dependency” (Wood 179). Wood defined dependents as “those who had no wills of their own” and by assaulting dependency, one is rebelling against a situation where they is reliant upon someone to meet their needs (Wood 56). This dependency was present politically through monarchy, patriarchal dependency, and social hierarchies that were inherited from the mother country. In order to have the “assault on dependency” Wood mentioned, the United States broke away from these ideals. During the early 1800s, the modern day nation of Colombia struggled to break free from the controlling and powerful country of Spain in order to establish a nation and assault their dependency upon the long-lasting Spanish rule. Colombia’s independence movement could be characterized as a partial assault on dependency due to attempts at drastic political movements and self-determination.
Prior to the independence movement, Spanish Americans had little involvement in government. Once the conquistadors created towns in New Granada, they appointed royal governors. These governors then created another source of royal authority, cabildos, or municipal councils. The governors appointed members to these councils, who were typically powerful encomenderos, and those members chose new officers among their peers. This form of aristocracy led to the creation of a “self-perpetuating [oligarchy]” (McFarlane 493). In order to strengthen the Royal Authority, Spain established the audiencia of Santa Fe in 1550. Audiencias were royal appellate courts. The goal of this audiencia was to centralize authority, but it failed to exert control over the Spanish settlers and their Creole descendents. The audiencia had a president that was appointed by the King and had power over the military. The Viceroyalty of New Granada was created in 1717 and failed in 1723 due to poor leadership, but was reestablished in 1739. Viceroys exercised jurisdiction over New Granada and “improved government finances, brought previously autonomous provincial governments under closer supervision, and strengthened Bogotá’s role as a center for a more integrated system of government” (McFarlane 494).
Charles III continued to reform New Granada’s government and commerce in the 1770s through the 1780s. He opened the region’s ports to free imperial trade and sent a visitor general to increase taxes and ensure that the colonial government would be more responsive to central commands. These steps to restructure administration and taxation were met with much opposition from the colonists. It triggered the Comunero Revolt of 1781. The Comunero Revolt united 20,000 people from multiple social groups. This uprising had clear consequences, including the repeal of the attempted reforms that triggered the revolt. It also caused an increase in opposition to colonial government, especially within the creole elite. These feelings of discontent were enhanced by Enlightenment ideals and resentment towards Spain for discrimination against Creoles.
These factors and many others caused the people of colonial Colombia to begin to desire independence from Spain. The colonists’ first attempt at independence was triggered by Napoleon’s capture of the Spanish throne that abdicated King Ferdinand VII in 1808. Without a legitimate monarch to rule the Spanish empire, Creole revolutionaries used this as an opportunity for self-governance. In 1810, they began overthrowing Spain’s royal subjects and establishing juntas, including a Supreme Junta in Bogota. Juntas were a patriotic alternative form of government to the Spanish colonial government. Juntas were an early example of the Colombians’ attempt at assaulting dependency through means of self-determination. However, when the Spanish regained control of their throne, they also took back control of New Granada by military force in 1815-1816. Following this reimposition of royal authority, there was “savage repression that…rekindled opposition to the colonial regime” (McFarlane 495). Liberator Simon Bolivar and his forces led the fight for Colombian independence. After victory in the Battle of Boyaca on 7 August 1819, Bolivar regained control of central New Granada.
This victory allowed Bolivar to create a foundation for the Republic of Colombia, and it was formally established in the Congress of Angostura in December 1819. This Republic is known to historians as Gran Colombia. It united the colonial territories of New Granada, Panama, Venezuela, and Quito under a single government and constitution that created a central yet conservative government. While New Granada may have been independent from Spain and a new government had been created, the assault on dependency had not occured yet. New Granada was still dependent, to some extent, upon the other countries that were included in Gran Colombia.
After Gran Colombia was dissolved, New Granada, formed its own country, which they named the Republic of New Granada. Under the Constitution of 1832, Colombian leaders created the structure for their new nation’s government: a republic. This republic included a president and a Congress. The complete change in structure of government from how it was during colonial times to the government outlined in the Constitution of 1832 exemplifies an assault on dependence to a great extent. New Granada’s decision to completely change their government demonstrated independence through self-determination. Now that they were no longer under Spanish rule, the people of New Granada utilized their grievances with the colonial government and Enlightenment ideals to establish a new form of government, as they now had the independence to do so.
Between the two main parties, liberals and conservatives, a highly disputed issue was the separation of church and state. The liberals supported lessening the power of the Catholic Church in government, while the conservatives wanted the opposite (“Politics”). Throughout Colombia’s beginnings as a nation the power shifted between the liberals and conservatives, and with it so did the Church’s role in the government. When the liberals were in power they instituted many reforms designed by the radicals of the party in order to “eradicate Colombia’s heavy colonial heritage”. These reforms included “a frontal attack on the institutional and cultural power of the Catholic Church (expropriations of wealth, removal from education, and expulsion of the Jesuit order)” (Mazzuca and Robinson 286).
The liberals attempts at removing the nation’s colonial heritage and limiting the power of the Church was an example of an assault on dependency. It was a complete change from how the government was structured during colonial times, as the church had been at the center of many aspects of life. In addition, with the Catholic Church in power, people were dependent upon it for their beliefs, and weakening it gave the people the power to think independently and have new ideas on how their government should be administered. However, these reforms were reversed when the Conservatives came back into power, reverting this to only a partial assault on dependency, as the reforms were not successful.
One might argue that Wood’s statement regarding the revolution being a “full-scale assault on dependency” does not apply to the Colombian independence movement at all because of the preservation of conservative ideals that existed. While the conservatives endorsed the previous methods of government, the existence of the liberal party proves negates this argument. The emergence of a two-party system itself demonstrates an assault on dependency. Prior to its independence, the people did not have very much say in its government or how it was run, so parties did not exist. By posing as a threat to the conservative values, the liberal party represents the bare minimum in the essence of Wood’s statement. As they were unable to retain their values that posed as a full-scale assault on dependency, the ability to challenge these ideals with swift reform permits the Colombian revolution to fall under Wood’s definition. The liberal agenda led the path towards Colombia’s sovereignty and development of power that allowed the country to act on their own terms, rather than at the hands of Spanish colonialism.