The revolution
that I had to study was the Brazil Revolution. The Brazil revolution all
started when Napoleon, the new French emperor, and his armies severed the
connections between Portugal and Brazil by invading Portugal and Spain in
1807-1808, right after the French Revolution had ended. When Napoleon went into
Spain, he imprisoned the Spanish King Ferdinand VII, which left the colonies
without royalty, thus starting a series of bloody wars fighting for
independence. Later on, in Brazil, French troops invaded and to avoid uprisings
like the ones that happened in Spain, the royal families of Brazil and 10,000 Portuguese
followers made a journey across the Atlantic and relocated their empire in Rio
de Janeiro. When the Portuguese prince, John VI, arrived in Brazil in 1808, he
was the ruler for thirteen years of Portugal’s Asian, African, and American
colonies in Rio de Janeiro. In 1815, King John VI elevated Brazil to the status
of a kingdom, and then shortly after, Napoleon was defeated in Europe, which
opened up new opportunities to reinstate the monarchy. However, John VI decided
to stay in Brazil, and then in 1820, the Portuguese army led a revolution to
bring about a constitutional government. Then in 1821, John VI gave up his leadership
position to his 23 year old son Pedro, and Pedro became prince regent of
Brazil. In 1822, Pedro declared Brazils independence, thus Brazil became one of
the first Latin American colonies to make a peaceful transition to
independence. And after creating a new constitution enacted in 1824, Portugal
finally recognized Brazil’s independence in 1825. Then, when Brazil was in a long
lasting struggle with Argentina over the Southern border of Brazil, it caused
the Cisplatine war that went from 1825-1828. Then when Brazil suffered defeat,
many people were unhappy with the way Pedro handled the war, thus Pedro abdicated
his Brazilian throne in 1831 and returned to Portugal. As you can see, there
were no real outbreaks due to race in the Brazil Revolution. After all, it was
the most peaceful transition to an independent colony in the Latin American
region. Its major outcomes were the takeover of the Southern border of Brazil
by the Argentineans, and the discovery of Rio de Janeiro when the Portuguese
fled when French troops invaded.
These days, race
continues to affect national identity and politics because there are many laws
written in the U.S that state that you can only do certain things if you are a
legal U.S citizen or if you were born in the country, etc. But now, these laws
are considered discriminatory because people are taking race very seriously now
and believe it is unfair to classify people by their race or background. In the
article by the New York Times titled “Reaction to Ferguson Decision Shows
Racial Divide Remains Over Views of Justice”, it talks about the white man that
shot the black teen and how the police officer who shot him was not being as
brutally punished because the kid he shot was black. This article shows how
race comes in to play in situations every day, and how people of other races
and backgrounds are still not treated as fairly as white people. I think that
this situation is horrible and that the police officer should be convicted just
the same as if he shot a white person because killing someone, no matter their
race, should come with the same consequences. Just been the teen was black does
not make it any better to have killed him. I believe that racial division is a
serious issue and it needs to be toned down and not taken into account as often
as it is.
Citation of article from the New York Times: Wines, Michael.
"Reaction to Ferguson Decision Shows Racial Divide Remains Over Views of
Justice." The New York Times. The New York Times, 25 Nov. 2014.
Web. 02 Dec. 2014. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/26/us/after-ferguson-announcement-a-racial-divide-remains-over-views-of-justice.html?_r=0
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