I found it interesting when this passage began discussing freedom and rights with the following line “men are born and remain free and equal in rights,” but then it said that
"the declaration did not include women, and made no mention of freedom for slaves" It then goes on to explain the definition of what it means to be a citizen, which varies greatly depending on where a person lived. Because of the extreme levels of diversity in Latin America, it was extremely challenging to define a citizen, and if each person deserved to have the rights which were granted along with citizenship. It was also a struggle to determine if woman were to be granted these rights, even if they were born into a high class family, because of the stereotype that was engraved into peoples minds that woman were to be homemakers, even if they had proved themselves in combat.
Since lighter skin was considered better, people subtracted the amount of darker skinned people through intermarriage as well as reclassification. Something that I found quite interesting was the difference in the importing of slaves in southern and northern America. Slaves were much less often imported in the United States, as they were much more valuable to the their owners, and therefore were better taken care of and lived longer lives. In South America, slaves were very frequently imported because they lived much shorter lives, many died within their first 3 years of work.
The second reading is focused on the current state of Cub, and centered on the equality of the people. This is displayed by the line " everybody in the conservation of Cuban nationality, allowing everybody born in this land equally in public administration". As well as " Immigration should be free for all races, without giving preference to any". The third reading was slightly confusing to me. It started off talking about the importance of religion, but then explained the cost f joining the church, with special discounts if a person was ill. I found this slightly odd, as church is now free except for donations.
The second reading is focused on the current state of Cub, and centered on the equality of the people. This is displayed by the line " everybody in the conservation of Cuban nationality, allowing everybody born in this land equally in public administration". As well as " Immigration should be free for all races, without giving preference to any". The third reading was slightly confusing to me. It started off talking about the importance of religion, but then explained the cost f joining the church, with special discounts if a person was ill. I found this slightly odd, as church is now free except for donations.
They must have taken the word "men" in "men are born and remain free and equal in rights quite literally. I do think that in Latin America, in the 1800s, a citizen was considered to be a white male. Anything else... eh, not so much. However, this is in terms of teh governments. People of all races and genders could self-identify as citizens and as equal to everyone else, including white males, but it took some time for this to be "officially" recognized.
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