Richard Henry Lee Chapter holds April Meeting

The Richard Henry Lee Chapter (RHLC) held its meeting on April 11th at Historic Christ Church.  RHLC President, Michael Rhodes, presided.

The meeting began with compatriots Kurt Muse and James Harding being honored with twenty-five- and ten-year membership recognition, respectively.

The keynote speaker was compatriot John S. Mason, Jr., a direct descendant of Founding Father George Mason. Compatriot Mason’s career included twenty years in Latin America and Spain. 

His talk, “How the Americas Won Independence with Help from an Empire,” addressed Latin America’s secession from a European empire, and how their wars for independence parallel those of our country’s fight for independence.

As a starting point, Mason reviewed comparative timelines of colonial history in Latin America versus North America.  In 1492, Spain’s Columbus first reached the Americas (Hispaniola and Cuba).  By 1519, Hernán Cortéz had discovered Mexico and conquered the Aztec empire.

In 1607, English settlers arrive at Jamestown, the first permanent colony in North America.  By then, Spain and Portugal had thriving colonies in southern America such as Mexico.

In colonial times, Europe’s premier superpowers, France and Britain, were bitter enemies. Struggles between the two in Europe were only exacerbated with their competition for North American territories. 

This power struggle coalesced into what might be termed the “first world war.”  The Seven-Years War of 1756 to 1763, covered theatres in Europe, America, and Asia.  The” American” portion of this world conflict was known as the French and Indian War.

Wars cost money.  Britain’s prosperous colonies looked like a ripe source of revenue with which to pay off debts.  For the next ten years, abusive new laws and mandates led to protests and finally, outright rebellion / war for independence in 1776.

As a result of Benjamin Franklin’s diplomatic efforts, France came to side of America. America went on to declare victory over the British crown.  French support was no more obvious than at the Battle of Yorktown in October 1781, with the French Navy driving away British ships to leave Cornwallis trapped, and with French troops fighting side by side with the Americans to defeat Cornwallis.

In 1789, the French monarchy was overthrown, and for ten years the infant republic struggled.  Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1804, and then set out to conquer the world. He took control of all Europe, before his fall at Waterloo in 1815.

The oppressed Latin American colonies saw a ray of hope.  Warfare with Napoleon had diminished the military might Spain and Portugal. Latin America’s chance for independence appeared to have come. Uprisings broke out everywhere.  Determined, rag-tag guerrillas defeated the colonial viceroy’s armies at every encounter.  The revolutions spread from Mexico all the way down to South America’s southern tier. 

Led by Simón Bolívar Latin America’s George Washington. Campaigns of liberation from Venezuela all the way down to Bolivia were fought as wars of independence against the colonial powers. Against what looked like hopeless odds and succeeded.  Some call this a miracle. 

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