An Early History of Independence: Letters on the United Provinces of South America

las Letters on the United Provinces of South America

Abstract

Letters on the United Provinces of South America was a book published in the United States in 1819. It advanced a view of present-day Argentina and Bolivia (and nearby places) to the US American public, including a general historical ­­survey. The story told turns May Revolution into a central event, which, even though it has some precendents, practically inaugurates the history of the region, understood as a history of liberty that leaves behind a period of oppression almost disregarded as an object of study. This oppression, at its time, is conceived as twofold: exerted by Spain and the Catholic Church, whose officials are portrayed in a very negative way. The study of the text and its author, Vicente Pazos, gives place to an exploration of the impact in the immediate public and of how this public defined, by and large, the book’s most salient characteristics.