Latin American Influence On The Enlightenment

The Enlightenment was a movement that started in the 18th century that introduced the use of reason. This use of reason was similarly used in the scientific revolution that had begun in the early renaissance but was now being used in philosophy. The big Enlightenment philosophers were Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke and Voltaire. Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote a book titled “The Social Contract” and the ‘Social Contact’ is a political theory that an individual relinquishes some of their rights to the state and the state in turn promises peace and order . In this contact Rousseau also argues that if the state does not fulfil its end of the bargain the individual has the right to overthrow the state. John Locke philosophized on human …show more content…
Haiti was the first Latin American country to follow with its revolution in 1791.In 1804 Haiti finally had won its independence from France and it was this victory that cemented the fate for much of the rest of South America. Simon Bolivar considered the great liberator of many South American countries freeing modern day Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia. The importance of Haiti’s independence for these South American countries was immense because it was Haiti that supplied Bolivar with men, weaponry and food in his quest for independence. Haiti's condition for their cooperation was that when freed Bolivar was to abolish slavery. Bolivar was successful in these revolutions gaining their independence from Spain but he did not abolish slavery. It is Bolivars decision to not abolish slavery the reason I argue that it was the success of the American and French revolution that was the driving inspiration for revolution in Latin American. Had it been the philosophy behind the revolution then these Latin American countries with higher percentages of slaves than the U.S would have followed Haiti’s example because the idea was that ALL men were created equal and with rights not just white