Independence Days

By Matthew Clarke

Sometime during the first half of the eighteenth century, a group of Nahua people from Zempoala, a village in what is now the Mexican state of Hidalgo, resisted Spanish claims to the land by presenting a claim of their own. They made their case with a book, which they may have believed to be the most effective way of appealing to the colonial powers. Using amatl, a bark paper dating from precolonial times, the Nahua people created a “land book” documenting their ownership of the area surrounding the village. They left the book’s pages rough in order to signal the ancient nature of their claims.

This land book, known as the Codex Zempoala, is on display in the Newberry’s current exhibition, ¡Viva la Libertad! Latin America and the Age of Revolutions. Funded by the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation and on view

The Codex Zempoala—a “land book” made by Nahua people in the eighteenth century—is featured in ¡Viva la Libertad!, a Newberry exhibition open through July 24.

According to the conventional narrative of the Age of Revolutions, the revolution in the United States in 1776 lit the torch of liberty, valiantly leading the way for the rest of the hemisphere. ¡Viva la Libertad! challenges this narrative of exceptionalism, revealing the complex roots of multiple independence movements throughout the Americas.

through July 24, the exhibition tells stories about how people across the Americas fought colonial rule, established independence, and embarked on the difficult work of governing their diverse populations.

According to the conventional narrative of the Age of Revolutions, the revolution in the United States in 1776 lit the torch of liberty, valiantly leading the way for the rest of the hemisphere. ¡Viva la Libertad! challenges this narrative of exceptionalism, revealing the complex roots of multiple independence movements throughout the Americas.

“The American Revolution was one of many struggles for independence from European empires during the Age of Revolutions,” says Will Hansen, the exhibition’s curator and the Newberry’s Director of Reader Services. “The aim of the exhibition is to show the connections between the many revolutions during this formative period and to help visitors understand how this history continues to shape life in the Americas.”

A range of exhibition materials from the Newberry collection underscores both the complexity of the Age of Revolutions and its ongoing legacy today. Visitors will see colonial-era maps, Indigenous manuscripts, manifestos, letters, and contemporary poster art exploring themes of territory, borders, and identity.

The Newberry’s extensive collection on the history of the Americas has been developed over the course of the library’s history and continues to grow today through both donations and purchases. The library also holds important collections of European materials that broaden geographic perspectives on the era—including 30,000 Revolutionary-era French pamphlets and 2,000 manuscript documents related to Napoleon. One letter by Napoleon in the Newberry collection is on display in ¡Viva la Libertad!

The exhibition’s themes are being amplified by a series of programs taking place throughout 2021 and 2022. Funded by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the series—titled ¡Viva la Libertad! Forming More Perfect Unions Across the Americas—consists of nine programs, including a participatory event about the historical practice of lifting a glass and toasting revolutions, a writing workshop that will give high school students the opportunity to draft their own personal declarations of independence, and a bike tour of public art inspired by freedom struggles in Latin America.

The engaging collection items on display in the exhibition anchor the project. Individually, these items have offered researchers a glimpse into colonial-era life in Latin America. Gathered together and arranged in the Newberry galleries, they present a panoramic view of a turbulent period that was at once inspiring, tragic, heroic, violent, and hopeful.

From the standpoint of American exceptionalism, the history of the Age of Revolutions goes something like this: inspired by Enlightenment ideals and tax grievances, a rag-tag army of scrappy colonists in the British territories of North America won independence from the world’s most powerful empire, sparking a movement that spread across the region, and indeed the world.

The reality, of course, is more complicated. Yes, the United States was the first country in the region to declare independence from a colonial power, and it offered inspiration to other nascent independence movements in Latin America. Yet it was only one of many countries in the Americas to undertake a struggle for independence, and its experience was far from normative—a fact frequently overshadowed by exceptionalist ideology. ¡Viva la Libertad! shifts the spotlight from the United States to the Americas as a whole.

The exhibition’s opening section, “Colonial Context,” provides background information on the period while posing questions like What does it mean to declare independence? Who is included and who is left out? In addition to a large timeline covering important dates, events, and figures of the period, the section includes items related to enslavement and the slave trade, Indigenous power and resistance, colonial bureaucracies and economies, and the racial caste system implemented by European colonists. Alongside the Codex Zempoala, it features a lateeighteenth-century broadsheet depicting the interior of a slave ship. Printed in London, the diagram was used by abolitionists in their successful bid to turn the British public against slavery.

“It is important to remember that slavery was part of the Europeans’ so-called ‘New World’ from the very beginning of colonialism,” says Hansen. “As early as 1501, Spanish colonists were transporting enslaved Africans to Santo Domingo (now the Dominican Republic). But it wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that abolition really gained a foothold in countries like Great Britain, in part due to the circulation of print materials that shocked audiences and revealed the horrors of slavery. Description of a Slave Ship is one famous example. Without a doubt, it’s one of the most powerful items in our collection. We decided to hang it in a niche at the back of the first gallery to give visitors a more intimate, private space for reflection.”

“Revolutionary Rumblings,” the exhibition’s next section, focuses on the connections between independence struggles in Latin America and revolutions in the United States, Haiti, and France. Among many other materials, visitors will see a book compiled by Vicente Rocafuerte, an Ecuadorian patriot who became president of the country when it gained independence in the 1830s. Published in Philadelphia in 1821, the book anthologized Spanish translations of important political documents from the United States—the Constitution and Articles of Confederation, as well as works by Thomas Paine and John Quincy Adams—and was intended to be smuggled into Latin America, where it would provide Spanish-speaking audiences with blueprints for republicanism.

Printed in London at the end of the eighteenth century, this diagram of a slave ship was used by British abolitionists to reveal the horrors of slavery.

The last two sections, “Powers of the Peoples” and “Liberty’s Promise, Liberty’s Problems,” highlight the cultural, religious, political, military, and transatlantic dimensions of the era’s revolutionary struggles as well as their continued relevance today. Alongside items related to major figures in Latin American independence movements—Simón Bolívar, José de San Martín, and José Antonio Paez, among others—the sections include a manuscript letter from Napoleon Bonaparte to his stepson recounting his occupation of Spain and his removal of the Spanish royal family, events that galvanized independence movements in Latin America. Visitors also have the opportunity to see the first book of Argentinian poetry, La Lira Argentina (The Argentinian Lyre).

“La Lira Argentina was created to preserve the poetry and songs that were created during the independence struggle in Argentina,” says Hansen. “It’s a fascinating work, with a foldout musical plate recording the Argentinian national anthem, and wonderful examples of gaucho poetry, in which stock gaucho characters discuss the events of the day and provide some political education to the undereducated classes.”

The exhibition also includes a group of three stunning maps, including one depicting the United States and Mexico. Created in 1847 in the midst of the Mexican-American War, the so-called Disturnell map was consulted by officials after the war as they redrew national boundaries.

“It’s impossible to overstate the historical significance of the Disturnell map,” explains Hansen. “It was never a great work of cartography; it included many inaccuracies. But in 1848, when Mexican and American representatives met to end the MexicanAmerican War, they relied on the Disturnell map to determine the border between the two countries. In fact, Article V of the resulting Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo—the article where Mexico tacitly ceded Texas and much of the rest of the Southwest to the United States—refers directly to the map.” ¡Viva la Libertad! also includes a series of newly created portraits introducing visitors to forgotten or lesser-known actors in the revolutionary struggles of the Americas. One features Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua, an eighteenth-century mixed-race woman now celebrated in Peru for her role in fighting for Indigenous rights alongside her better-known husband, the Incan leader Túpac Amaru II. Another portrait honors Leona Vicario, a heroine of the Mexican War of Independence.

Visitors to the exhibition are also greeted by a selection of recently acquired prints by contemporary artists reflecting on themes like liberty, identity, and borders. The product of collaboration among artists from Mexico and the United States, the prints were recently acquired by the Newberry and serve as a reminder that the struggles of the Age of Revolutions are in many cases ongoing.

One of three stunning maps in the exhibition, the so-called Disturnell map was used by Mexican and United States officials to redraw the borders of the two countries after the Mexican-American War.

The exhibition includes a selection of recently acquired prints by contemporary artists that reflect on exhibition themes like liberty, identity, and borders. Photo by Anne Ryan

The program series being held in association with the exhibition builds on the Newberry’s recent citywide collaborative project commemorating the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago Race Riots. ¡Viva la Libertad! Forming More Perfect Unions Across the Americas integrates participatory formats and resources from the Newberry’s collections to encourage public conversation and personal reflection about Latin American independence. In May, for example, high school students from Chicago’s Instituto Justice and Leadership Academy recited their own declarations of This portrait of Micaela Bastidas Puyucahua independence inspired —a mixed-race woman who fought for by the foundational Indigenous rights in eighteenth-century Peru—is one of the newly created artworks documents of the that appear in the exhibition. American, Haitian, Venezuelan, and Mexican independence movements. Based on historical research, and with assistance from Newberry staff, the students workshopped their own statements in advance and then shared them with the public.

“We’re thrilled to bring together such a diverse group of speakers for this array of programs,” said Karen Christianson, Director of Public Engagement at the Newberry. “With this series, we hope to provide audiences across Chicago and beyond with many ways to engage with a fascinating era that still shapes our lives today. From writing workshops and bike rides to scholarly talks, public conversations, gallery tours, and even a performance of historical toasts, the series truly offers something for everyone.”

We hope you’ll join us in raising a glass, in person or virtually: ¡Viva la Libertad!

Matthew Clarke is Communications Coordinator at the Newberry.

Visit digital.newberry.org/libertad for more information about the project.