When the American colonists decided to declare independence from England, the Spanish Empire in the Americas was vast and many members of the Philosophical Society included Spaniards affiliated with King Carlos III. As a result, the revolutionaries benefited from Spanish aid and in the 1820s, Latin American nations were created having been inspired by both the Spanish and American Constitutions.

Several printers in Philadelphia, such as Mathew Carey (APS 1821), were publishing books in Spanish for the Spanish American book trade. Political leaders looked to the United States for guidance in developing their own republican principles, such as from Desengaño del hombre (Rights of Man) (2), written by Thomas Paine (APS 1785). Pamphlets (1) such as those donated by Valentín de Foronda (APS 1802) were also among works that influenced the independence movement. Foronda was an economist who was acquainted with Thomas Jefferson and other American leaders. Condy Raguet, (APS 1822) Charge d’Affaires to Rio de Janiero in 1825, donated newspapers (3) that include an article written by Simón Bolívar and others declaring the success of independence movements in Spanish America.

The watercolor (4) depicts South America in the 19th century.

The map (5), circa 1800, shows the Isthmus of Darien that captured the interest of people from around the world over many centuries. Europeans first learned of it after Vasco Nuñez de Balboa trekked through the jungle of present day Panama and at the precipice noticed another ocean. This isthmus was recognized as an important strategic point for migration, transportation, and commerce which would all be dramatically affected if an inter-oceanic canal could be built to connect the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

One example is found in a letter written by Benjamin Dearborn (APS 1803) to the society in 1803 (6) with a “….proposition of cutting a canal from the Atlantic to the Western Ocean, through the Isthmus of Darien.” He suggests collecting a tax to raise money to purchase slaves from slave owners in the United States who would then work to build the canal, earn their freedom, and colonize a part of South America once their work was completed. The proposal details his ideas of “…..combining two objects of such magnitude as manumitting the slave and contracting the navigation of the globe.”

1. El amigo de los hombres a todos los que habitan las islas y el vasto continente de la América Española (Philadelphia : Blocquerst, 1812)
Defends the cause of Spanish American independence.

Valentín de Foronda.  Cartas presentadas a la Sociedad Filosofica de Philadelphia.  (Philadelphia : Bradford), 1807.
Foronda (APS 1802) published actively during his years in Philadelphia.  This volume focuses on medicine, politics, and economics. 

2. Thomas Paine.  Desengaño del hombre (Philadelphia : Matthew Carey, 1822)
This new Spanish edition of Paine’s Rights of Man, printed 28 years after Paine was first brought to the attention of the Spanish world, is part of the Thomas Paine Collection of Richard Gimbel in the Library of the American Philosophical Society.

3. South American Newspapers
Gaceta Mercantil, Buenos Aires, Diciembre 31, 1825, Republica Argentina
Patriota Chileno, Santiago Julio 5 de 1826
PROCLAMA, Account of Simón Bolívar urging on Peruvian liberation forces Del Gobierno de Lima, Del mieroles 22 de Diciembre de 1824

4. Watercolor of South America.  Undated, 19th century watercolor.

5. Joseph Smith Speer, cartographer (attributed).  West Indies.  N.p. [ca. 1800].
This hand-colored map shows what is today the most southern region of the United States along with Mexico, the West Indies, Central America, and northern South America.  Its focus is on the West Indian colonial possessions of the European powers.  It features a graduated Mercator chart, meridian of London with scales in British statute miles, nautical leagues, and marine miles.  The scale is ca. 1:5 000 000.

6. Benjamin Dearborn to the American Philosophical Society, 1803 February 4.  Benjamin Dearborn (APS 1803) letter concerning the abolition of slavery and building a canal in Darien (Panama).

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