Conservatism After Latin American Independence

                While this scenario was true for the majority of Latin America, it was not the case for Brazil, and yet, the Brazilians were still dominated by conservatives and ruled by a monarchy that was of Portuguese origins.  In sum, the reason why Brazil did not suffer the rule of Caudillos or suffer so dramatically in terms of economics was for several reasons.  First, Portugal released Brazil as a colony with comparatively little fighting (Chasteen 130).   As such, the agriculture and industry that had developed was left unharmed.  Also, because no large armies were required to eliminate the Portuguese from Brazil, there was less debt and less economic problems associated with maintaining a large army.

                Further, while Brazil attempted to make liberal reforms, it had enough time and stability to see that the country as a whole was unfit for liberal reforms.  Lastly, Brazil’s independence struggle was later than those of Latin America and so the liberals of Brazil would have been able to see the problems that were occurring in the rest of Latin America and so had a greater understanding of the possible result of continuing liberal reforms.  However, after taking power away from Padro I, reducing the army, and moving toward democracy could liberals see the contradiction of their own ideology.  While believing that “all men were created equal,” they could not support the internal hierarchy that developed in Brazil without a resulting violence (Chasteen 134).   As such, the liberals of Brazil relinquished authority back to the monarchy deciding that democracy, if only temporarily, was not as important as rule of law for the time being.

                Liberals were in the wrong place at the wrong time for most of Latin America.  While their ideals were needed to move people toward independence, they had no chance to overcome the cultural and societal barriers against them.  While it is easy to criticize the liberals for failing to disband the military or for not immediately fixing the economy, the root of the problem for liberals was found in that the majority of the people were not interested in liberal reforms.  Many people couldn’t even read and so would have had limited and a weak role in the new government even if it had remained longer.  There was no precedence for liberal ideology which was regarded as European thought in a time when no one wanted to remember the way the Europeans were to them.   However, in the end, the story for the liberals did not end but would return victoriously in the 1850s when the tides finally turned and given the chance to change Latin America for decades to come.