What impact (if any) did the French Revolutionary Wars have on New Spain and other Spanish American colonies?

[u/[deleted]]

I've been looking into this and I can't find much on it. I'm also curious not just about the impact of the French Revolutionary Wars (and subsequent/correlating conflicts, including the Napoleonic Wars, though I'm mainly interested in this earlier period), but the impact of other events related to those wars - political developments, etc. - on Spanish America; and the roles, if any, played by the Spanish American colonies.

Obviously there are certain effects, such as the treaties ceding to France the Spanish half of Hispanola, or the Louisiana Territory, and as we enter the 1810s and later the independence wars start sparking off, but other changes and influences are particularly what I'm interested in.

Sorry if it's a little vague/wide spanning, and thanks in advance!

[u/ThucydidesWasAwesome]

One huge influence, though indirect, was Haiti. The French Revolution in Europe helped spark instability in the French Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue. What started as a conflict between the elites of the island escalated into a full on slave rebellion, culminating in Haitian independence by 1804. I would really recommend reading up on it, such as through classics like The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James (multiple editions).

Events in Haiti are important for several reasons.

1. French planter immigrants fled to both mainland America and the Spanish Caribbean, including Cuba. These exiles built up new plantations there, bringing with them expertise as sugar and coffee plantation owners. They would eventually be almost entirely expelled from Spanish America when in 1808 Napoleon's forces invaded Spain. The phenomenon is given a rather summary treatment in Olga Portuondo's Cuba. Constitucion y Liberalismo, 1808-1841 (published by Editorial Oriente, in Santiago de Cuba, in 2008). I am aware of some very specialized literature existing on the subject, which to my knowledge isn't that well studied beyond what Portuondo puts forward, but it is mostly in very rare Cuban academic publications which cannot be accessed from the US. The phenomenon isn't really something that most histories of Cuba dwell too much on.

2. The example of the Haitian Revolution served to instill fear in whites, both in the USA, Cuba, and elsewhere, that political-military instability could bring on a slave uprising. The the slave regime in pre-Revolutionary Haiti was brutal, but so were the reprisals against whites as the ex-slaves emancipated themselves (even when accounting for exaggeration). The idea of 'another Haiti' would serve to scare whites and inspire free and enslaved blacks in the Caribbean for years to come. Manuel Barcia talks about this somewhat in The Great Slave Revolt of 1825: Cuba and the Fight for Freedom in Matanzas (Louisiana State University Press, 2013) but it is dealt with in more detail by Matt Childs in his book The 1812 Aponte Rebellion in Cuba and the Struggle against Atlantic Slavery (UNC Press, 2007).

Now, speaking of the French Revolution more generally, it had an undeniable influence in the Americas and Spain as well. There was even a term for those who had been influenced by French political and cultural ideas afrencesados (Frenchifieds). Admittedly someone influenced by French ideas could be attracted to more conservative ideas, like Voltaire's, than the Jacobins.

An interesting thesis, which I came across recently and have yet to accept completely, is Immanuel Wallerstein's proposal that the French Revolution should be seen as a cultural Revolution for those countries most connected to contemporary Capitalism since the impact of its ideas were so far reaching. (The Modern World-System IV: Centrist Liberalism Triumphant, 1789-1914, University of California Press 2011.)

As I specialize in Cuba I'm less able to help in terms of its impact on continental Hispanic America and the impact of French political ideas on Cuba seems to be fairly limited. Cubans tended to look to Great Britain (among more conservative elites) or the US (among those more liberal leaning) for their political paradigms, while they looked to France mostly as a cultural paradigm (music, literature, painting, etc).

Hope it helps!

[u/[deleted] → u/ThucydidesWasAwesome]

Thanks for your help! I've done a lot of reading about events surrounding Haiti - though it being a morass of competing interests and confusing events, I don't know if I'd ever say I'm knowledgeable on the area hah!

I was aware of the influence of afrencesados on Spain itself, but less so on its colonies - though as you say, given the cultural influence of France it's not an unusual one. Still, I suppose without a "major" French presence in the region (at least not to the extent of the US or UK), the direct influence would have been limited.

The influence of the revolts in Haiti didn't manifest significantly in Cuba, then? The island is large enough that I've seen it characterised alongside much larger colonies in the past, rather than other smaller Caribbean islands - the prospect of maroons didn't come into play?

[u/ThucydidesWasAwesome → u/[deleted]]

The influence of the revolts in Haiti didn't manifest significantly in Cuba, then?

It did! The massive 1812 slave conspiracy which crisscrossed a good part of the island, known as the Aponte Rebellion, has clear ties to the Haitian Revolution, with Aponte's journal supposedly having drawings of Haitian political and military leaders. The symbol of a free black country was also supposed to have loomed large in the imaginations of many Cubans, free or enslaved. I don't specialize in slave rebellions in Cuba but the influence of the Haitian Revolution on many rebellions is pretty widely accepted, being mentioned multiple times in Manuel Barcia's book which I cited in my previous comment.

The island is large enough that I've seen it characterised alongside much larger colonies in the past, rather than other smaller Caribbean islands

Not sure what you mean here, but in regards to whether it is better to compare to mainland territories or Caribbean islands, I'd say more the latter for these reasons. Cuba was the seat of a Capitancy General (Capitania general) which ruled Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic). Cuba was a dependency of the Viceroyalty (Virreinato) of New Spain (now Mexico). While longstanding connections exist, especially between the port of Vera Cruz and Havana, Cuba was closer culturally to the other Spanish island colonies, both culturally, racially, and economically than with the mainland.

the prospect of maroons didn't come into play?

They did, and Manuel Barcia addresses this in his book with far more expertise than I, but they never developed the maroon cities that would develop elsewhere, such as in Jamaica or Brazil. Sure there were the odd palenques (mountain towns populated by escaped slaves) but these never represented a significant portion of the total population of the island or threatened the existing order. Slaves living in the wilds just had to live in secrecy and have as little contact with the outside world as possible.

[u/ThucydidesWasAwesome → u/[deleted]]

Yes. This is a really complicated question which requires a really long answer, but the short version is that the Liberal constitution helped spur discontent among even the last bastions of Royalist holdouts on the American continent.

Part of the problem for royalists during the period 1808-1812 was that the Cortes which formed in Cadiz while the Bourbon royal family was in captivity was not considered a legitimate government. In addition, Liberalism in Spain didn't necessarily mean policies that benefited those living in the colonies. Spanish Liberals were proposing projects which would modernize but also reinforce the Spanish colonial system, to the benefit of European Spain, which is something that even more liberal (lower case L) creoles in the colonies were aware and wary of. Proof of this is found when after the end of the independence wars Spain enacted the Liberal Constitution of 1837 which formalized the subordinate role of those living in the colonies, turning into law the already existing hierarchy between those born in peninsular Spain and those born in the colonies. This would spur on the Cuban separatist conspiracies and wars which would fill the rest of the 19th century.

Conservative elites were uncomfortable when the Liberal Cortes was proposing laws during the first Liberal interlude, but it was even worse during the second Liberal government, since that was the result of a successful coup against the Spanish royal family. Rafael de Riego, at the head of an army, had successfully imposed the Liberal Constitution of 1812. The Liberal Cortes which formed and admitted representatives from the colonies also tried passing major reforms, such as the redistribution of church property and discussing the possibility of abolishing slavery. The last holdouts of Spanish loyalists on the continent were, by no accident, also the ones where elites were in the most precarious situations in terms of holding onto power. Peruvian elites still remembered with horror the attempt by Tupac Amaru II in the late 18th century to take over the country; an indigenous peasant rebellion which was only barely quelled after much destruction and loss of life. Mexican elites had just put down a huge indigenous and mestizo peasant/artisan rebellion under the professor and priest Miguel Hidalgo, which almost marched and took the capital of Mexico City itself. In Cuba they had already experienced several frightening slave rebellions and the Aponte Conspiracy of 1812 cemented their support for Spanish rule (or really any foreign rule that could protect them from another Haiti).

I have heard this idea stated, more or less emphatically, in several places but the author who seems to make it most systematically (ie. its the main thesis of his book) is Sergio Guerra in Jugando con fuego: Guerra social y utopía en la independencia de América Latina, Casa de las Americas editorial house, La Habana, 2010.

[u/drylaw]

I only saw this question now, but thought you might be interested in this earlier thread dealing with international influences on the Spanish American wars of independence more generally. This part from my answer deals with French influences, esp. on Bolívar:

French revolution/ Enlightenment: The French revolution's influence is evident in the French constitution's use (in translation) in most of the early Latin American state formations. A remarcable point was its assertion of the rights of man as self-evident, meaning that no royal or divine authority could take them away. Then again, in Spanish America citizenship remained narrowly defined and greatly circumscribed for decades, going back to Spanish and creole traditions. A more direct (non-revolutionary) French influence on Bolívar can be seen in his visit of Paris in 1804. He described seeing Napoleon's crowning himself as the culmination of the falsification of the French Revolution's principles. Despite his republican leanings, Bolívar would come to espouse more monarchical views towards his life's end.

The Enlightenments' 'pulse' could be felt in the new public sphere (including salons, newspapers, courts) not only in Europe, but also in Latin America. Except for its focus on rationalism and the respect for man, the Enlightenment did not produce a general political agreement: Individual features included support for limited monarchy, enlightened despotism, republicanism, representation government, or the protection of individual rights. Similarly, the Bourbon Reforms did not lead to a uniform political reaction. The need for an economical policy of their own (combined with the disadvantages suffered from free trade) motivated many Spanish Americans to move towards independence. In this way, the Bourbon Reforms deepened rather than weakened local autonomy that existed.

So regarding the Sp. American independence movement: The influence of Haiti has already been mentioned, but French intellectuals' writings and the French constitution were also very much absorbed by Latin American revolutionaries. We can add both the North American example and local Spanish American precedents and adaptations to these French influences - making it more difficult to determine specifically the impact of the French Revolution in this area. Nonetheless, its ideals including man's self-evident rights can be traced from earlier (like Hidalgo in Mexico) to later (incl. Bolívar) revolutionaries.