Lack of representation was a motivating factor for the revolutions in both regions. Neither the Latin American colonists nor the American colonists had seats in the parliaments of the European colonial powers they belonged to.
None of the revolutions were peaceful, all the colonies had to wage war against their colonial masters. Mexico and Perú, the two most important Spanish colonies, underwent particularly bloody wars.
Fiscal difficulties helped bring about the revolutions: England was almost bankrupt because of the French-Indian War, and raised taxes on the American colonies, which angered the American leaders, and Spain was conquered by Napoleon, who raised taxes on the Latin American colonies.
Three differences:
The American revolution occurred decades earlier. The United States became an independent nation in 1776. By 1820, 44 years later, over half of Latin American colonies were still fighting for independence.
The American revolution did not have any direct historic event as inspiration, because of how early it came about, meanwhile, the Latin American revolutions were greatly inspired by both the American revolution and the French revolution.
The American revolution led to the formation of a federal state, most of the Latin American revolutions resulted in the formation of centralized states inspired by the French style of administration.
The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement that emerged during the eighteenth century in Europe, which advocated the use of reason (light) against the old regime (darkness) and preached greater economic and political freedom. This movement promoted political, economic and social changes, based on the ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity.
