Draft:South America Commission 1817-1818

The South America Commission was an diplomatic mission coordinated by the United States of America from 1817 to 1818 during the period of Latin American Wars of Independence. The goals of the commission were to observe the development of revolutionary movements and newly-formed governments in the region, develop diplomatic relations with newly-formed governments, and find credible reasons for the United States to move away from a stance of neutrality on the issues within the region. Among the various instructions given to the commission by Congress, the limits of the scope of observation were set to go "no further south than Buenos Aries"

Formation

Congress had multiple candidates for the commission. The first one sought out was Joel R. Poinsett but he refused, wanting to focus on his duties in the South Carolina state legislature. Two commissioners were found afterward, Caeser Augustus Rodney, a U.S. representative from Delaware, and John Graham, chargé d'affaires in the U.S. legation to Spain. soon after, Henry Brackenbridge was added as secretary of the commission. Baltimore Judge Theodorick Bland was added shortly before departure from New York.

Objectives and Guidelines

Before departure, instructions and guidelines for the commission were created by then-acting Secretary of State Richard Rush and John Quincy Adams in order to maintain the United States neutral status. The guidelines read as such:

"1. The form of government established, with the amount of population and pecuniary resources and the state and proportion as to numbers intelligence and wealth of the contending parties, wherever a contest exists.

2. The extent and organization of the military force on each side, with the means open to each of keeping it up.

3. The names and characters of leading men, whether in civil life or as military chiefs, whose- conduct and opinions shed an influence upon events.

4. The dispositions that prevail among the public authorities and people towards the United States and towards the great nations of Europe, with the probability of commercial or other connections being on foot, or desired, with either.

5. The principal articles of commerce, regarding the export and import trade. What articles from the United States find the best market? What prices do their productions, most useful in the United States, usually bear? The duties on exports and imports; are all nations charged the same?

6. The principal ports and harbors, with the works of defence.

7. The real prospect, so far as seems justly inferrable from existing events and the operation of causes as well moral as physical in all the provinces where a struggle is going on, of the final and permanent issue.

8. The probable durability of the governments that have already been established with their credit, and the extent of their authority, in relation to adjoining provinces. This remark will be especially applicable to Buenos Ayres. If there be any reason to think, that the government established there is not likely to be permanent, as to which no opinion is here expressed, it will become desirable to ascertain the probable character and policy of that which is expected to succeed it. ... Your stay at each place will not be longer than is necessary to a fair accomplishment of the objects held up. You will see the propriety, in all instances, of showing respect to the existing authority or government of whatever kind it may be, and of mingling a conciliatory demeanor with a strict observance of all established usages. You will . . . not go further south than Buenos Ayres. At this point it is hoped that you may be able to obtain the means of obtaining useful information as respects Chili and Peru. . . . Your observation and enquiries will not be exclusively confined to the heads indicated, but take other scope, keeping to the spirit of these instructions, as your own view of things upon the spot may suggest."

Connection to Latin American Revolutions

The ideologies surrounding this commission could be understood to be parallel to thoughts on Pan-Americanism present in Latin American revolutions led by figures Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín. Rush and Adams state in the beginning of their instructions that "As inhabitants of the same hemisphere, it was natural that we should feel a solicitude for the welfare of the colonists".

Sources

1. Stewart, Watt. “The South American Commission, 1817-1818.” The Hispanic American Historical Review 9, no. 1 (1929): 31–59. https://doi.org/10.2307/2506639.
2. “The Present State of Chili ; Present State of Chile ; from the Report Laid before Congress.” Latin American Pamphlet Digital Collection - CURIOSity Digital Collections, curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/latin-american-pamphlet-digital-collection/catalog/43-990040778850203941