The Americas on the eve of independence

The Americas on the eve of independence

Territories in the Americas colonized or claimed by a European great power in 1750.

Données clés

Faculté	Lettres
Département	Département d’histoire générale
Professeur(s)	Aline Helg
Cours	The United States and Latin America: late 18th and 20th centuries

Lectures

• The Americas on the eve of independence
• The independence of the United States
• The U.S. Constitution and Early 19th Century Society
• The Haitian Revolution and its Impact in the Americas
• The independence of Latin American nations
• Latin America around 1850: societies, economies, policies
• The Northern and Southern United States circa 1850: immigration and slavery
• The American Civil War and Reconstruction: 1861 - 1877
• The (re)United States: 1877 - 1900
• Regimes of Order and Progress in Latin America: 1875 - 1910
• The Mexican Revolution: 1910 - 1940
• American society in the 1920s
• The Great Depression and the New Deal: 1929 - 1940
• From Big Stick Policy to Good Neighbor Policy
• Coups d'état and Latin American populisms
• The United States and World War II
• Latin America during the Second World War
• US Post-War Society: Cold War and the Society of Plenty
• The Cold War in Latin America and the Cuban Revolution
• The Civil Rights Movement in the United States

In 1770, the entire Americas were colonies of the great European powers, namely Spain, Portugal, England, France, Holland and Denmark.

The vast majority of these American territories were border areas or even uncolonized territories occupied by Amerindian nations or tribes. The present time with the colonization phase of the Amazonian forest and the last phase of colonization with the disappearance of the indigenous populations.

These territories were very sparsely populated. As these colonial powers did not control these continents, these territories were lands of refuge for fugitives, that is to say for slaves, peasants chased by their masters, criminals who were pushed towards the interior.

Languages

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Distribution of populations by origin

The most densely populated areas are the east coast of what would become the United States, the entire Atlantic coast of South America, the entire Pacific coast of South America, as well as the Caribbean, Central America and present-day Mexico. On the other hand, there are areas of population along the navigable rivers, but few people settle along the banks of these rivers.

The main cities are densely populated areas. In 1770, there were 15 million inhabitants in the Americas.

In New France there are about 70,000 inhabitants; this is Louisiana as far as present-day Canada. There are 3 million inhabitants in the 13 colonies that will constitute the first United States, also 3 million inhabitants in the Kingdom of the Viceroyalty of Spain, namely Mexico, California, Texas and Central America. There are 4 million inhabitants in the rest of Spain's colonies from Colombia through Venezuela to Chile and Argentina, but also Cuba, Puerto Rico and the current Republic of Santo Domingo. Brazil has a population of 1.5 million.

The French West Indies have 600,000 inhabitants, 500,000 of whom are in Haiti and 80% of them are slaves, 300,000 in the British West Indies and inside we still have 1.5 - 2 million uncolonized Indians.

The Importance of "Racial" Belonging

The history of colonization and slavery in the Americas has significantly impacted the current racial and ethnic dynamics in the region. The treatment of indigenous peoples and the forced migration of enslaved Africans have led to ongoing issues such as discrimination and inequality. These issues are still present in contemporary society and continue to affect communities of color.

Amerindian-majority regions

Felipe Guamán Poma de Ayala: he rebuilt the entire Amerindian imagination after the conquest. It is an extraordinary source for historians to reconstruct what was happening at the time. The Indians were forced to provide forced labour in the mines and on the looms.

It is the region that best resisted colonization, historians estimate that there were between 50 and 60 million people in the Americas in 1500. What is tragic is that around 1600, the Amerindians numbered less than 4 million. This demographic catastrophe was due enormously to the diseases brought by the Europeans against which the Amerindians had no natural protection. Moreover, the enslavement participated in their genocide while the movements were repressed by massacres explaining the demographic fall.

What is fascinating is that in the Caribbean, where there were probably 5 million Amerindians, in 1770 there were almost none left and in 1800 almost all of them disappeared.

From 1650 - 1680 there is a recovery of the indigenous population and this in the great empires at the time of the conquest with urban civilizations and a highly developed agriculture in a densely populated territory, so that even if there was 90% population disappearance there is a resumption of population growth: these are the territories of Mesoamerica and the Andes, namely the Inca and Mayan civilizations.

In 1770, 2/3 of the population was Amerindian, but many took refuge in the non-settled territories to reconstitute their population and way of life.

Regions with a majority of European origin

In regions with a majority of European origin, such as the 13 colonies that would become the United States, and particularly the Northern United States, the concept of "racial" belonging played an important role in shaping the social and political landscape. Although the number of Europeans in these colonies rose dramatically, from 30,000 in 1700 to 2.5 million in 1770, they were still a minority in relation to the indigenous populations and enslaved Africans. This demographic reality had a significant impact on the way society was organized and how power was distributed.

The presence of a large number of European immigrants led to the development of a social hierarchy based on race and ethnicity, with white Europeans at the top and other racial and ethnic groups at the bottom. This hierarchy was reinforced by laws and policies that institutionalized discrimination and inequality. It had a lasting impact on the region and continues to shape the social and political landscape to this day.

Regions with a majority of African origin

In regions with a majority of African origin, such as the Caribbean and certain regions of Brazil, the concept of "racial" belonging played a significant role in shaping the social and political landscape. The colonization of the Americas was largely carried out through the forced migration of enslaved Africans. As a result, these regions had a large population of enslaved people and their descendants. The number of Africans deported to the Americas was four times higher than that of Europeans who emigrated voluntarily between 1500 and 1780.

These regions were mainly agricultural and were characterized by large-scale tropical plantations where enslaved Africans were forced to work, producing crops such as sugar, cocoa, and tobacco. These regions also had a significant population of Afro-descendants, such as the region of Lima and the Pacific coast where there were mines, the region of Guyana where there were sugar plantations, and the Maryland region in the United States where there was a large slave population and many agricultural products.

At that time, virtually all domestic service was in the hands of enslaved people. In many cities in the Iberian Americas, such as Buenos Aires, Afro-descendants made up a significant proportion of the population. This history of slavery and forced migration has had a lasting impact on the region, shaping the social and political landscape and contributing to ongoing issues of racial and ethnic inequality.

Majority Métis, Mulatto or Zambo regions

All these arrivals of slaves and whites make a great crossbreeding especially in Latin America. This happens between surviving Amerindian populations, slaves, but also whites.

Men will bond with Amerindian and slave women, accelerating the crossbreeding that will later be theorized, producing in the imagination of the settlers great concern about their racial origins. A whole art form based on "crossbreeding paintings" was developed, showing this typology of crossbreeding. In the imaginary there is the will to whiten.

In Iberian America there is an obsession with "purity of blood" that goes back to the colonization of the Christians in the Iberian Peninsula against the bit that ends just when Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas.

All this explains the "purity of blood" which is strong at the time of the reconquest and continued until the middle of the 19th century. In order to study, to exercise higher professions, to have royal functions, ecclesiastical functions, one must prove one's purity of blood. It is necessary to be "clean of all bad races of blacks, mulattos, bitches, Jews, newly converted to our Holy Cross or punished by the Inquisition"..

Specifically in the Americas, the Spanish monarchy is not going to apply this dialectic to the Indians, which would contradict the primacy of settlement in America. However, all Africans and their descendants will be disqualified for the "impurity of their blood".

The Amerindians

Iberian America

The question of impurity is also the question of the illegitimacy of birth in relation to religious marriage disqualifying the person even if all his ancestors are European and of "pure" blood. To complicate matters, the practice of manual trades also disqualifies. This application in the Iberian Peninsula is exported to the Americas.

White people are part of the upper caste, there is an extremely restricted elite who hold everything in their hands. Too few men are qualified for their purity of blood, the vast majority have African blood while the illegitimacy of birth affects the majority of the population. It will really be for the important positions that "purity of blood" will be respected.

What is interesting is to see and that Spain and Portugal do not have enough men to serve in the service of the armies that requires blood purity. Blacks and free mulattos will be the main militiamen guarding the coasts. This is a rule that does not respect the letter of the law. Since these militiamen are armed to defend royalty, they are granted a number of privileges related to their status in the army.

The Andean region will see parks set up to force the Indians to work and pay their taxes to the King. These Indians are therefore considered by the King of Spain as "miners" that he must protect, so a series of laws protect them and subject them to work in the mines or weaving. It is important to see that there is this submission at the same time as a dialogue with the King to contest the taking of land by the Spaniards. In many places the Indians are going to be against the Independence process because it will go hand in hand with liberalism directly threatening their land.

We have all these differences that exist in socioracial castes, the Indians do not live in the cities. There are the few white people, a whole population that does manual work and the slaves who are either mestizos or Africans; in most Iberian cities, the white population is at most 30% of the population. These cities concentrate all the power, but their control over the territory is quite limited. The control of civil servants is relatively limited, especially in the large villages.

America is overwhelmingly rural, with no more than 10% of the population living in cities, the largest city is Mexico qui concentre 100000 habitants.

Anglo-Saxon America

There's a sociospatial stratification, but a different one. Indians are considered sub-human and savage, even in cases where they convert to Christianity like the Cherokees. The English are mainly interested in Indian lands: "A good Indian is a dead Indian".. The entire 19th century was a century of land conquest by the United States.

Racism will increase from the 17th century onwards as slavery develops. It should be known that the colonization of British America was also done by white servants, poor whites, but also criminals who, in order to work 7 years in the land, became free and could settle freely in the territory.

Slavery will spread little by little even if it did not exist in Great Britain, no rules can be transferred to the Americas, the rules being invented as slavery develops. All blacks will become slaves reinforcing racism.

Immigration is not done by men, but by families who are often fugitives for religious reasons who will settle on land that has no reluctance for manual work.

Slavery

It characterizes the whole of the Americas is all activities, they work on plantations, in domestic services, in shops, in transport, in ports, in crafts, but also in writing some being poets, musicians ... it is an extremely diverse society with great differences in living conditions.

In the Iberian Peninsula, there was a code of law dating back to the 13th century that was to be exported to the Americas being the same as the slavery in the Roman Empire. In this code of law, slaves could buy their freedom marking the main difference with the Anglo-Saxon Americas, it was a right to buy freedom and to get out of their slave status without being freed from the "defilement of slavery". The result is that it is easier to do this in cities than on plantations.

A class of "coloured freedmen" will be formed, descendants of free slaves. For Anglo-Saxon America, this possibility does not exist. However, in the Iberian Americas, manumission will gradually be made difficult. The common denominator between all the Americas in a matriarchal society is that the status is given by the mother.

In the Spanish Americas, there would soon be more freedmen of colour than slaves.

The Slave Trade

Since the 17th century, 12 million Africans have arrived "alive" in the Americas. It can be seen that 40% of the slaves went to Brazil throughout the colonization period, followed by the English and French Caribbean. The future United States had very few slaves. The number of slaves in the United States will grow largely because slaves will have better health and food conditions. In the other colonies, it was necessary to have a massive and regular importation because the living and working conditions were catastrophic.

The greatest period of the trade was the period of "enlightenment". There is a contradiction with the philosophy of the Enlightenment, because at the same time as independence was developing, it was also the period when the trade was going to be the most intense. What is also interesting is that from 1815 onwards the slave trade was prohibited.

Agricultural production

Iberian America

In the colonial period of Iberian America, the descendants of European settlers often acquired large landholdings, while indigenous communities and small farmers were forced to settle in less fertile areas. This pattern of unequal land distribution has persisted throughout history and continues to be a significant issue in many parts of the Americas. Moreover, the concentration of land in the hands of a few has contributed to ongoing issues of poverty and inequality for marginalized communities, particularly indigenous and Afro-descendent groups..

Anglo-Saxon America

During the early period of Anglo-Saxon settlement in America, there was a relatively equal distribution of land, with many family farms. Over time, however, the pattern of land ownership began to change and inequality increased, with a growing concentration of land in the hands of large plantations. In addition, the rise of plantation agriculture, especially in the South, was based on the labor of enslaved Africans, which further contributed to the racial and economic inequality in the region. The legacy of this history continues to shape the agricultural landscape of the United States today, with ongoing issues of land ownership and economic inequality affecting many rural communities.

Trade of port cities

The communication routes are very bad, it took longer to reach the port cities of the Americas than port cities in Europe.

Mercantilism is the economic doctrine according to which the essential wealth of states lies in their gold and silver wealth, which goes hand in hand with protectionism and the monopoly of the metropolis on trade; that is the dominant ideology.

In this 18th century, the great metropolises are in great need of gold and silver, because they are constantly waging war against each other. America is supposed to be the great provider of capital through imports and exports.

The way mercantilism applies is different:

Anglo-Saxon America

During the colonial period, the trade of port cities in Anglo-Saxon America, particularly in the British colonies, was a major contributor to the region's economic prosperity. The production of tobacco, indigo, and sugar, which were in high demand in Europe, helped fuel the growth of these port cities and contributed to the development of the American economy. The British authorities largely ignored the smuggling of these goods, as the legitimate trade was sufficient to fill their coffers. This prosperity led to the rapid development of ports such as Boston and Philadelphia, which became major centers of trade and commerce. This economic prosperity also significantly impacted the Industrial Revolution in England, as the raw materials and markets provided by the American colonies played a key role in developing new technologies and manufacturing techniques.

Iberian America

In contrast to Anglo-Saxon America, the trade of port cities in Iberian America was heavily controlled and monopolized by the colonizing powers. The metropolis, usually Spain or Portugal, had strict regulations that forbade the colonies from trading with each other or with other countries. This led to a lack of economic development and prosperity in the colonies. This system also led to the growth of a class of extreme contrabandists who smuggled goods and traded illegally. This illicit trade was one of the few ways for the colonies to access goods or generate income. This system of control and trade restriction has had a lasting impact on the region's economic development and has contributed to ongoing issues of poverty and inequality.

Political Administration

Iberian America

In Iberian America, the colonizing powers maintained a strict and rigid system of political administration. The metropolis, usually Spain or Portugal, held great control over the colonies and had little regard for local autonomy. For the Spanish Americas, the Council of the Indies held significant power and made decisions for the colonies. The executive power was in the hands of a viceroy, who was always a Spaniard and had extensive control over the territory. There was little local power, even for the elites and wealthy members of society. The only kind of regime that existed were local councils that represented minorities. This centralization of power and lack of autonomy has had a lasting impact on the region and has contributed to ongoing political and economic inequality issues.

Anglo-Saxon America

In contrast to Iberian America, the British colonies in Anglo-Saxon America had a decentralized system of political administration. Great Britain established local legislative assemblies in each colony, in which local elites sat and had a degree of autonomy in decision-making and managing the colony's taxes and finances. However, this system did not extend to the general population. It was not democratic, as it excluded a large proportion of the population, such as enslaved people, indigenous people, and women. Despite this, the experience of self-government and the participation of colonial elites in the legislative assemblies provided them with valuable experience and knowledge of governance, which would serve them well at the time of independence.

Religions and cultural diversity

Anglo-Saxon America

There is an incredible diversity of Protestantism fighting for control of a number of regions. There are ideologies that clash, it's a "Protestant Babylon". Only the quakers advocate religious tolerance and pacifism. At the beginning of the 18th century, religiosity was in decline; it was at this time that some pastors launched a religious opening called the « Great Awakening »; the pastors upset the listeners by threatening them with hell. This movement will affect all 13 colonies with the first idea of the United States:

• idea of the superiority of divine law
• conviction that natural laws were given by god.

Iberian America

There is an immense territory and almost non-existent communications, Catholicism is far from being universal. The great bastions of Catholicism are the big cities with large Spanish and Portuguese populations. Parish priests are present where there are large Indian populations. In the rural areas, local virgin venerations develop, which are creations on the spot, mixing Amerindian elements with elements of the Catholic tradition that persist to this day.

The Catholic Church is practically non-existent on the plantations and in the tropical regions. There is very quickly a syncretism between African religions and Catholicism. Many religions are created hiding behind Catholicism.

There will be a very small part of the population that will have access to the ideas of the philosophy of the Enlightenment, but one of the main ones is that there are natural laws that we can try to understand and through which we can change things. Locke writes that the role of the state is to provide well-being and security to individuals who have inalienable rights to life, liberty and property.

Annexes

• Cours :
  • Histoire économique et sociale du Tiers-Monde :
    • Les grandes étapes de l’expansion européenne XVIe-XXe siècles