The Language of Liberation: Slave Voices in the Wars of Independence

In 1815, as warfare raged throughout Spanish South America and an increasing number of the inhabitants, regardless of race or class, began accepting the idea of independence, a Venezuelan black named Juan Izaguirre was telling slaves on the Valle de Onato estate that they were as free as anyone else. At the best of times, language and ideas such as these were considered inflammable and subversive. In the midst of the events of the early nineteenth century, they aroused even more concern, particularly in Venezuela where slaves had taken up arms some years earlier and were engaged in a struggle that threatened to develop into a race war, so that Izaguirre's prompt arrest must have produced widespread relief. ¹ Yet, while actionable and disturbing, the words that he used should not have been unfamiliar to anyone, for Izaguirre was simply repeating what was then very much in vogue. His were the same words that the liberators were pronouncing throughout the continent. Where he differed, and what made his utterances more disquieting, was in their social thrust. They indicated that by 1815 the appeals for national independence and political freedom had taken a new direction and become closely intertwined with calls for personal liberty. They also revealed that the concept of freedom, in its various political and social guises, had become a subject of debate and discussion amongst all classes and races.

The origins of the language of the independence era can easily be traced. With the outbreak of the wars, the leaders of the Spanish American struggles turned to familiar themes and images to justify the reasons for their actions. Utilizing the concepts of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment as well as the American and French revolutions, they made frequent references to terms such as natural rights, popular sovereignty, separation of powers, and liberty. ² As the struggles intensified, shifting from reform within the Spanish imperial structure to complete independence, the concepts of freedom and loyalty to the homeland or patria assumed increasing importance. So, too, did one particular analogy that began to appear with greater frequency in the discourse. Those fighting for freedom used the word "slavery" to describe their situation, accusing Spain of having "enslaved" the colonies. The accusations occasionally detailed, but more often simply implied, through the use of the term that Spanish Americans had experienced all the suffering that slavery denoted. Critics cast Spain as an abusive and exploitative master that had dominated the Americans and prevented them from fulfilling their potential. The latter's fight thereby acquired a moral halo, as it sought to secure for the inhabitants of Spanish America not only freedom but also justice, equality, human rights, and everything else that their "enslavement" had prevented.

The liberators' call for freedom with its associated slavery metaphor found favor at all levels of society, but it struck an especially resonant chord within that sector of the Spanish American population who in fact and by law were enslaved. Because of their status and situation the area's slaves were naturally drawn to any language that referred to freedom. That attraction involved them in a two-pronged struggle as the wars for independence spread. They first accepted the word's application to the political field and responded by committing their lives to national liberation. In the discourse of the time, they offered their "service to the cause of liberty." ³ Slaves and masters fighting for independence thus shared a common experience and a common language, although that sharing often masked an uneasy relationship, for many of the former had fled their owners to join the patriot forces. The relationship became further strained when the slaves took the language one step further and applied the concepts to their own circumstances to justify personal emancipation. In other words, they accepted the language of political liberation and then widened its terms of reference to the social field. It was hardly a...