Thomas Jefferson on Indigence in Spanish America The Power of the Republican Ideal
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Abstract
As has been amply documented, Thomas Jefferson expressed a sincere interest in the
peoples of Spanish America with the waning of colonial rule in the early nineteenth century. I
argue in this paper that a substantial portion of his vision was comprised by implying Spanish
American societies as ones defined through poverty. His understanding of indigence among
peoples of the region was not simply confined to describing their economic condition, but was
linked to a moral-political vision with the problem of independence as the major issue related
economic poverty. I also contend, at the same time, that Jefferson in fact articulated his hope that
Spanish American nations would be able to develop a republican structure of government, made
possible by the special economic situation of the Western hemisphere, thus also implying the
chance of tackling poverty there.
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