Philadelphia, PA

Dear Poulsen,

I've recently come across references to the following figure of the Spanish American independence movement, who, as it happens had significant contacts with the American soldier and statesman, Alexander Hamilton:

A brief quotation from the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Francisco de Miranda, (born March 28, 1750, Caracas, Venez.—died July 14, 1816, Cádiz, Spain), Venezuelan revolutionary who helped to pave the way for independence in Latin America. His own plan for the liberation of Spain’s American colonies with the help of the European powers failed, but he remains known as El Precursor—i.e., “the forerunner” of Bolívar and other more effective revolutionaries.

---end quotation

See:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-de-Miranda

I'd be interested to find out more about him--and of his writings. Miranda sought to organize both European and American help in his plans of Latin American independence. There were provisional plans for Miranda and American forces to unite against Spain in the southwest of North America (at least in the mind of Hamilton). But as far as I know, these never got much beyond the level of provisional plans and no help was forthcoming from the U.S. or the British government.

Its an interesting point, perhaps, that by the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which ended the American War of independence, the U.S. and GB shared rights of navigation on the Mississippi--although Spain controlled the mouth of the river at New Orleans. In addition, GB retained posts in the old Northwest territory, along the Great Lakes--positioned to tie together the commerce of Canada and the Mississippi. One might look on this as an invitation for joint projects in relation to Louisiana --though nothing of the sort came of it.

H.G. Callaway

Read the "Acta del 20 de Julio" if a man's signature it's there either he was important to the revolution or was related to someone that was.

On the most notorius man should be noted, Franscisco de Miranda, Antonio Nariño, i would recommend his "Bagatela", Francisco de Paula Santander and Simón Bolivar.

However the most important documents of the movement were actually letters that these men send each other regarding everything, so they should be checked.

H.G. Callaway, Diego Gamboa thank you very much for your answer. I'm writing a research proposal in intellectual history combining the American, French, and Spanish American revolutions, but I lack proper expertise regarding the latter. Hopefully, this will increase if I get the research grant. Now I know a little better where to look at.