[00:0.23]2007
[00:01.52]By 1830 the former Spanish and Portuguese colonies had become independent nations.
[00:07.52]The roughly 20 million inhabitants of these nations looked hopefully to the future.
[00:13.94]Born in the crisis of the old regime and Iberian Colonialism,
[00:18.41]many of the leaders of independence
[00:21.13]shared the ideals of representative government,
[00:24.76]careers open to talent, freedom of commerce and trade, the right to private property,
[00:31.03]and a belief in the individual as the basis of society.
[00:36.15]Generally there was a belief that the new nations
[00:39.90]should be sovereign and independent states,
[00:43.50]large enough to be economically viable
[00:46.44]and integrated by a common set of laws.
[00:50.52]On the issue of freedom of religion and the position of the church,
[00:55.38]however , there was less agreement among the leadership.
[00:58.94]Roman Catholicism had been the state religion
[01:02.61]and the only one allowed by the Spanish crown,
[01:07.13]While most leaders sought to maintain Catholicism
[01:10.60]as the official religion of the new states,
[01:13.40]some sought to end the exclusion of other faiths.
[01:18.17]The defense of the Church became a rallying cry
[01:21.68]for the conservative forces.
[01:22.50]
[01:24.45]The ideals of the early leaders of independence were often egalitarian,
[01:29.96]valuing equality of everything.
[01:32.91]Bolivar had received aid from Haiti and had promised in return
[01:37.71]to abolish slavery in the areas he liberated.
[01:41.71]By 1854 slavery had been abolished everywhere except Spain’s remaining colonies.
[01:48.57]Early premise to end Indian tribute and taxes on people of mixed origin came much slower
[01:55.82]because the new nations still needed the revenue
[02:00.13]such policies produced Egalitarian sentiments were often tempered
[02:05.13]by fears that the mass of the population
[02:07.96]was unprepared for self-rule and democracy.