The 1820s as Hemispheric Pivot

The 1820s as Hemispheric Pivot Ernesto Bassi (bio) The occasion has been judged proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States are involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers. —James Monroe, Washington, D.C., December 2, 1823 The day on which our plenipotentiaries exchange credentials will mark the beginning of an immortal period in the diplomatic history of America. —Simón Bolívar, Lima, December 7, 1824 The deed is done. The nail is driven. Spanish America is free; and if we do not mismanage our matters sadly, she is English. —George Canning, London, December 17, 1824 AT the end of 1824, "after fifteen years of sacrifices dedicated to the freedom of America," Simón Bolívar, in his capacity as president of Colombia, invited the governments of Mexico, Buenos Aires, Chile, the United Provinces of Central America (comprising present-day Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua), and [End Page 43] Peru to send representatives to a congress of "American republics" to be held in Panama. In early 1825, the invitation was extended to the United States, Bolivia, Brazil (despite not being a republic), and two European governments that were to participate as observers: Great Britain and the Netherlands. The congress, Bolívar claimed, "will mark the beginning of an immortal period in the diplomatic history of America."1 Despite the refusal of the governments of Buenos Aires, Chile, and Brazil to send delegates and the inability of the representatives from the United States and Bolivia to reach Panama on time, the congress was officially inaugurated on June 22, 1826. During the next three weeks, the representatives of Colombia (which included present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Venezuela), Peru, Mexico, and the United Provinces of Central America, as well as the observers from Great Britain and the Netherlands, gathered in Panama City for the Amphictyonic Congress of Panama. Among various issues, the delegates discussed ways to pressure Spain to acknowledge the independence of the new American republics; the convenience of supporting the independence of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines; the possibility of establishing a treaty of trade and navigation favorable to all signatories; the need to clarify the political borders of the new republics; and the prospects of the abolition of slavery across the hemisphere.2 Disagreements among the representatives on all matters under discussion and the conspicuous absence of Chile, Buenos Aires, and the United States ultimately resulted in the congress's failure to produce any document of significant diplomatic weight. A relocation of the assembly to Tacubaya (in Mexico), where the U.S. representative was able to join his Mexican, Colombian, and Central American counterparts, did not yield more promising outcomes. After the conventions in Panama and Tacubaya, a treaty—in which the representatives of Colombia, Mexico, Peru, and Central America agreed to a "perpetual pact of firm and inviolable friendship" aimed at safeguarding the "sovereignty and independence of each and every one of the confederate powers of America against all foreign domination" and at ensuring "from now on the enjoyment of unalterable peace"—was all the representatives could show at the end of the meetings.3 Though formal foreign domination remained mostly at [End Page 44] bay, peace proved far from unalterable. This vague, unratified, and unenforceable treaty became proof both that the congress took place and that it had been an utter failure. Despite its failure, the convocation and materialization of the congress reveal important elements of Bolívar's geopolitical imagination, of the ways in which he interpreted the present he inhabited and envisioned the future he sought to create.4 Bolívar's logic when proposing a gathering of independent republics in Panama reveals that he saw himself as a worldmaker with a heightened sense of his desire and potential ability to bring about historical transformation.5 Key to this logic was thinking in hemispheric perspective and seeing the 1820s as marking a significant historical break. Bolívar's America was geographically vast; it was also experiencing the

Computer Science · Historical Studies in Latin America · International Relations in Latin America