Deck 2: Latin America in the Age of Revolution, 1789-1820s

Question 1

Which of the following was NOT an important external factor contributing to Latin American independence movements?

A) Support for the economic theory of mercantilism.
B) The Enlightenment idea that a government derived its legitimacy from the consent of its people.
C) The examples of the French and American Revolutions.
D) Napoleon's invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Under the Bourbon reforms, criollos born in the New World

A) Were encouraged to apply for jobs in the colonial administration in order to ensure their families' loyalty.
B) Were forbidden from amassing economic power by owning large estates.
C) Were eventually forbidden from becoming Catholic priests.
D) Gained limited representation in the Spanish parliament.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The slave uprising that began in Saint Domingue in August 1791

A) Began after peaceful petitions to the French government for racial equality on the island had failed.
B) Was sparked by the shocking rape of a slave girl by her French master.
C) Was quickly and violently suppressed by French and British forces.
D) Exposed the ideological differences between liberal and conservative French planters.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The Haitian Revolution

A) Put and end to the conflicts between the gens de couleur and the noirs.
B) Was hindered by diseases that decimated the black population while leaving Europeans unscathed.
C) Left the pre-revolutionary racial hierarchy of the island largely undisturbed.
D) Served as a warning to the white populations of the rest of the hemisphere about the dangers of slave insurrection, race war, and colonial independence.

Question 5

Miguel Hidalgo and José María Morelos

A) Were the two great rivals for leadership of post-independence Mexico.
B) Were exemplary priests who convinced the Catholic bishops of New Spain to support independence.
C) Were both skilled military commanders in rural and urban guerrilla warfare.
D) Tried but ultimately failed to fully reconcile the diverging goals and priorities of their diverse supporters.

Question 6

King Ferdinand VII of Spain

A) Was installed as a puppet monarch by the British in 1808, prompting a crisis of legitimacy in the Spanish colonies.
B) Made wise concessions to the autonomist movement in New Spain (Mexico) in order to preserve his rule.
C) Was a divisive figure among the people of Mexico who held different views of the monarchy.
D) Ruled more liberally and effectively after being restored to his throne.

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT TRUE about the juntas formed in Spanish America after 1808?

A) They allowed people to affirm their loyalty to the true Bourbon king.
B) They generally represented the most radical elements of criollo politics.
C) They allowed the people of the colonies to begin to experiment with governing themselves.
D) They provided an opportunity to address grievances built up during the Bourbon period.

Question 8

Simón Bolívar

A) Was like most criollos in that he opposed independence until well after the political crisis began.
B) Inspired his soldiers by appealing to their shared humble upbringing.
C) Lacked formal military training but built a reputation as an effective if often ruthless commander.
D) Was betrayed by his comrade Francisco de Miranda and spent years in a Spanish prison.

Question 9

Which of the following was NOT an obstacle to the independence of Venezuela?

A) Fears of a race war given that perhaps half of the population was pardo.
B) The llanero cavalry commanded by Tomás Boves.
C) Two major earthquakes that struck Caracas and other towns in 1812.
D) The assembly's unanimous decision to grant full citizenship rights to pardos under the First Republic.

Question 10

The last holdout of Spanish power in South America to be liberated was

A) Peru and Upper Peru (Bolivia).
B) Colombia.
C) Venezuela.
D) Chile.

Question 11

Sugar cane

A) Helped put an end to the relative neglect of Spain's Caribbean islands after the sixteenth century.
B) Was the only Spanish Caribbean cash crop tended by indentured white labor.
C) Helped revive the indigenous population of the Caribbean by creating new employment.
D) Had only a minor effect on the demographic and economic history of the Spanish Caribbean.

Question 12

Conspirators in failed uprisings in late-colonial Portuguese Brazil included all of the following EXCEPT

A) Petty tradesmen.
B) Intellectuals and writers.
C) Catholic clergy.
D) Disaffected officers and soldiers.

Question 13

Changes to the political culture in Rio de Janeiro and Brazil as a whole under Dom João included

A) A crackdown on the circulation of information through libraries and the press.
B) The rise of a culture of political patronage and favor-seeking.
C) The relative weakening of Brazilian elites who lost their leverage in negotiations with Lisbon.
D) A growing movement to abolish the monarchy and proclaim an independent republic.

Question 14

José Bonifácio Andrada e Silva

A) Opposed the abolition of slavery because that would threaten Brazilian prosperity.
B) Resisted public education as a threat to the Church.
C) Was an enlightened reformer constrained by the conservative politics of his context.
D) Was exiled for plotting against the royal family.

Question 15

Both Ferdinand VII of Spain and João VI of Portugal

A) Lost their American possessions because they could not reconcile the colonists' desires for equality or autonomy with the traditions of monarchy and Iberian supremacy.
B) Were betrayed by the British into surrendering their American empires.
C) Ultimately put the interests of colonial elites above those of the nobility in Spain and Portugal.
D) Lost their thrones in Europe but founded new dynasties in the New World.