Discursive Transition: Critical Review of The Spanish “Juntista” Speech versus The American Libertarian Speech in the 19Th Century

Abstract

It would be difficult to understand the Mexican War of Independence if we disregard the principal voices that arose during the beginning of the XIX century. The characters of this movement promoted a speech of autonomy and maturity about the Spanish colonies.

These freedom discourses make up reflections and proposals of extraordinary historical value because they give support to the political expectations of the Creole-American society, thus affirming the ethical values that should rule the nation they were building. The pro-independence speeches of Guadalajara in west Mexico, particularly, are associated to an open criticism toward the colonial system while praising the advantages of independence. This being said, the romantic style adopted by the authors when representing colonial times as a dismal burden that goes against the idealization of a liberated life from Spain in which the national sovereignty prevails and the privileges of the dominant classes are abolished, does not cease to amaze.

The purpose of this article, therefore, is to show the discursive transition that begins with the creoles of the last stage of the colony and ends with the revolutionary independents of New Spain.