Analyze the two documents and in a paragraph state your claim as to what the main idea is, a piece of evidence of support, an ex
planation of its significance, why is the author presenting this to his/her audience and who is that audience. 5 points for each document.
Document #1: “Letter from Jamaica,” Simón Bolívar (1815)
The fight for the independence of the Spanish colonies in Latin America was on the defensive. Simón Bolívar, a member of the Venezuelan planter class and a leading figure in the movement, was in exile. From the island of Jamaica, he issued a letter analyzing the current and future perspectives of the independence struggle.
"...The role of the inhabitants of the American hemisphere has for centuries been purely passive. Politically they were nonexistent. We are still in a position lower than slavery, and therefore it is more difficult for us to rise to the enjoyment of freedom. Permit me these transgressions in order to establish the issue. States are slaves because of either the nature or the misuse of their constitutions; a people are therefore enslaved when the government, by its nature or its vices, infringes on and usurps the rights of the citizen or subject. Applying these principles, we find that America was denied not only its freedom but even an active and effective tyranny...."
Document #2: “Address at the Congress of Angostura,” Simón Bolívar (1819)
The Viceroyalty of New Granada included; Colombia, Panama, Venezuela, and parts of Ecuador. It achieved independence from the Spanish Empire. Under the leadership of the Simón Bolívar, revolutionary forces repeatedly fought off Spanish attempts to regain control of the region. In the midst of the battles for independence, Bolívar summoned a congress in the city of Angostura
“…We are not Europeans; we are not Indians; we are but a mixed species of aborigines and Spaniards. Americans by birth and Europeans by law, we find ourselves engaged in a dual conflict: we are disputing with the natives for titles of ownership, and at the same time we are struggling to maintain ourselves in the country that gave us birth against the opposition of the invaders. Thus, our position is most extraordinary and complicated.
…Although those people [North Americans]…are unique in the history of mankind, …that so weak and complicated a government as the federal system has managed to govern them in the difficult and trying circumstances of their past. …Regardless of the effectiveness of this form of government with respect to North America, I must say that it has never for a moment entered my mind to compare the position and character of two states as dissimilar as the English-American and the Spanish-American. Would it not be most difficult to apply to Spain the English system of political, civil, and religious liberty: Hence, it would be even more difficult to adapt to Venezuela the laws of North America?”
