As democracy and republicanism propagated throughout the Americas, so too did royalist reactions that sought to contain these new ideologies. What resulted was a polarized world. Spanish America made uncertain strides towards republican governance while still bearing the vestiges of its colonial past.
This exhibit commemorates the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence by placing it within a wider hemispheric story that extends far beyond 1776. Beginning with the bureaucratic stability of colonial Latin America, documents such as hacienda inventories and royal decrees reveal a world in which authority relied on hierarchy, property, and obedience to the crown. As revolutionary ideas spread through the Americas, insurgent figures like José Servando Teresa de Mier challenged imperial power and questioned the legitimacy of monarchy itself. The momentum of rebellion is traced through the expanding network of correspondence surrounding Miguel Hidalgo, showing how the goals of Mexican insurgency echoed across the Atlantic and invited reactions from many corners of the world. Those reactions form a crucial part of the exhibit, as Spanish and French pamphlets demonstrate the fear of losing control and the effort to maintain loyalty through political messaging and propaganda. After independence, the uncertainty of state-building becomes clear in cases such as Argentina’s caudillo era, where strongmen filled the vacuum left by collapsing empires and debated how centralized authority should be. The exhibit concludes with the emergence of constitutional projects throughout Latin America, which reflected Enlightenment ideals and local political realities to imagine new forms of national governance.
We invite you to explore these sources and reflect on how independence across the hemisphere involved triumph and liberation as well as contradiction and struggle.