Latin American Independence The Spanish amassed great wealth and power in their American colonies through oppression, slavery and racism. An amazing variety of classes developed and created a social gap in the people. At the turn of the nineteenth century, the American-born population began to advance towards independence. The process did not happen over night. Instead, it developed slowly due to social, political, ethnic, and economic factors, and the often bloody war for independence raged …showed first 75 words of 763 total…

…showed last 75 words of 763 total…ladder. Political disorder and powerful leaders attempting to regulate authority marked the period after the revolutionary wars. Independence did not win Latin America its success; freedom created new problems and new challenges that had to be overcome. Bibliography Keen, Benjamin. Latin American Civilization. Westview Press. 2000. Burkholder, Mark A. & Lyman L. Johnson. Colonial Latin America. 4th Ed. Oxford University Press. 2001. Clayton, Lawrence A. & Michael L. Conniff. A History of Modern Latin America. Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1999.