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Throughout the nineteenth century, Spanish American writers and thinkers grappled with their unique circumstances of independence after three centuries of Spanish colonial rule. The emergence of a significant number of new polities that adopted representative institutions in an era when absolutism prevailed in Western Europe, their general adoption of republicanism, and their complex demographic composition, all posed serious challenges for the formation of national states in Spanish America. This volume explores how politically engaged Spanish American thinkers reflected on these issues, either in government or in opposition. Through a wide selection of texts, some previously unpublished in the English language, the volume demonstrates the multiplicity of voices across countries, perspectives and social background. The texts included are organised around main themes reflecting central concerns including history; democracy, constitutionalism and liberty; church and state; society; Spanish America and the World; and 'Fin de siecle'. This volume thus vividly demonstrates the significance of Latin America to the field of Global Intellectual History.