FAMILY AND POLITICS: THREE GENERATIONS (1790-1890)

Abstract: This essay views nineteenth-century Latin American politics through the lens of kinship deemphasizing individuals, political organizations, and in-stitutions. Politics is observed through the activities of families and the family itself is seen as the fundamental enterprise rather than the family hacienda (landed estate) or commercial exporting business. With this perspective, the family can be seen expanding from an urban enterprise to an urban-rural one; extending its authority through political posts obtained in the city (military com-manders, justices of the peace in areas of their rural estates). The spatial com-ponents of political power—local to regional to national—are also revealed by observing families as they attempt through marriage, political office, and trans-portation investments to extend their reach to a national level. The political history of Latin America has traditionally been presented as a chronicle of political parties, wars, and the tenure of particular government officials. I