Examples Of Conservatism In Latin America

Conservatives and Liberals in Latin America The nineteenth century in Latin America was full of mixed emotions. Countries were gaining their independence, but then left unsure how to govern their newly independent nations. Two ideologies developed - Liberals and Conservatives. Liberalism, which previously advocated for countries to fight for independence, now stood for popular sovereignty and equality for all citizens (Chasteen 118). Conservatism, on the other hand, supported elites keeping the power (Chasteen 119); Conservatism did not emerge immediately after countries gained independence, but a couple years after when Liberalism began failing. Although Conservatives and Liberals have different ideals, they both faced backlash from

Liberal ideas were actually the driving force for independence. The Liberals based their ideology on the United States, English, and the French; their goal was to replicate the popular sovereignty and equality filled nations in Latin America. Considering the drastic change of governing style of the Spanish, there were challenges faced by the Liberals. A system with the main focus on equality of the people was difficult to implement in a society who does not see themselves all as equal. Even though there was not an official caste system based on race anymore, there was a new system had developed. This new system, “…had been a fixed aspect of people’s social being…” (Chasteen 142). Even though the society is not discriminating by race any more, they still do not see themselves as equals with those whom are in a lower socioeconomic class. This was an obstacle for the Liberals since elites had to agree to the system, which gave up their title and power being an elite. There was no longer an advantage to

Spain’s main influence on Conservatives was that they favored keeping the original system - keeping the elites in power and keeping a caste system in place; this would maintain order to the government and society. While implementing this type of government, Latin Americans did not object. They found this comfortable since they knew this governing style worked compared to the previously failed Liberal government. Although the government was the basically the same as it previously was with Spain, there was unrest with the lower-class. There were far more mixed and indigenous people, whom were considered lower class, than there were whites. Also, “…African people and their children still slaved in the fields of plantations…” (Chasteen 134). Considering the slaves, mixed, and indigenous individuals, this system does not favor them. Although they fought for independence believing that they would be considered equals, the system is back to discriminating against them. Besides the discriminating factor, individuals were skeptical of the conservatives system since it was very similar to the Spaniards. These individuals claimed that they should not have fought for independence if their government was going to reflect the same system as before. In spite of Conservatism being similar to the previous system, it still received retaliation from Latin Americans when being