Simon Bolivar's Jamacian Letter

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Simon Bolivar, “Jamaican Letter”

Captivation or being restrained due to certain circumstances that prevents free choice is usually one of many great reasons to form revolutionary ideas. To get from captivation to liberation, one must consider change, a major component needed in order to gain freedom after enslavement. Latin America, in the eighteen hundreds, sought the need for change due to the resentment of the Spanish rule. Simon Bolivar, the revolutionary leader of Latin America, will seek independence from Spain. It was in Jamaica where Bolivar wrote a letter known as the “Jamaican Letter”, one of Bolivar’s greatest proposals. The letter emphasizes his thoughts and meanings of the revolution while envisioning a variety of governmental structures, of the New World, that could one day be recognized.

Bolivar illustrates the relationship between the Spanish American colonies and Spain. The relationship could be described as bitter, at least in the eyes of the Spanish colonies. Inferiority led the Spanish colonies to the ideas of revolution. Although their rights come from the Europeans, they do not acknowledge themselves as Europeans or Indians. The people of the Spanish colonies claim to be, according to Bolivar, “[…] a species midway between the legitimate proprietors of [America] and the Spanish usurper” (411). “Usurpers” meaning a position that is held by forces which entails an unwanted or uninvited relationship. It is because of the Europeans, as stated by Bolivar, that “we have to assert [European] rights against the rights of the natives, and at the same time we must defend ourselves against invaders [which] places us in a most extraordinary and involved situation” (411). This is also evidence of a bitter rela...

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... gain to Spain. He also viewed the Americans that were under the Spanish rule as serfs. Serfs are classified as a member of the lowest feudal class with a status so low that it makes it harder to gain freedom. Bolivar does not agree with absolutism which he feels is another form of slavery. His idea of governance for Latin America is one that is “organized as a great republic”, but he sees this as impossible. Bolivar expresses that it would be nice to have “an august assembly of representatives of republics, kingdoms, and empires to deliberate upon high interest of peace and war with the nations of the other three-quarters of the globe. This type of organization may come to pass in some happier period of our regeneration” (413).

Works Cited

Baird, Michele, Staudt, Maureen and Stranz, Michael, eds. Envisioning World Civilization. Mississippi: Thomson, 2006.

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