Dbq Creoles Research Paper

America in the late 1700’s was divided up into social classes that gave more power and privileges to certain groups. You were born into a class and stayed there your whole life. America was ruled by Spain and was therefore called colonial Latin, or Spanish, America. Peninsulares, or people born in Spain who moved to the colonies and became the leaders of America’s government and society, were at the top of this social hierarchy. Slaves were people of African descent who could be bought or sold and were at the bottom of these classes. Creoles were American born Spaniards who could hold army offices but weren’t as powerful as the Peninsulares. The Creoles lead the fight for Latin American Independence due to their lack of and problems with political and economical power and the issues concerning the social classes.
Creoles were tired of the issues within the social classes. As explained in Document A, the creoles were “engaged in a dual conflict.” They fought the natives for the ownership of the land they lived on while they tried being a part of the government against the will of the Peninsulares. While they had more rights than most, the Peninsulares kept them from excelling. Creoles held few government jobs but had about no say in how the colonies were ran. The wealthiest with the most power had the least …show more content…
As explained in Document C, “ Americanos… logically ought to fill the public offices...for the benefit of all concerned.” Americanos, meaning creoles, were sick of having no say whatsoever with colonies’ affairs. They were forced to buy their needs for “artificially high prices” and sell their products for “artificially low prices.” According to Document C, these restrictions “sealed America off from the rest of the world (limiting) our basic personal and property rights…” Creoles lead the fight for Independence because of how unfair their economy was set