In most ways, colonial hierarchies of race, class, and gender remained intact after independence had been achieved throughout Latin America. By 1830, Spain continued to control only Cuba and Puerto Rico. Portugal had lost all of its claims in the Western Hemisphere, although emperor Pedro II was tied to the Portuguese royal family by blood. Still, despite general continuities, liberal ideals of citizenship and equality, of America for the americanos did reorder society in subtle ways. Most directly, the military necessity of enlisting slaves and free blacks meant that the vast majority of the new nations (with the *glaring* exception of Brazil) abolished slavery in their national constitutions. Women worked for independence as well, sometimes by taking up arms, but more often in supporting roles off of the battlefield.
Significantly, the independence of the French colony of Saint Domingue (today Haiti) came through a violent--and ultimately successful--slave revolution. Inspired by the French Revolution and its liberal promises of liberty, equality, and fraternity, in early 1793 Toussaint Louverture (a slave who initially opposed the uprising) rose to prominence at the head of an army comprised mostly of African-born slaves. By the end of the year, the French National Assembly had abolished slavery throughout all of its imperial holdings. After resisting attempted Spanish and British conquests between 1794 and 1798, Louverture and the black population of Saint Domingue once again faced a large French army in 1801 when Napoleon attempted to reestablish chattel slavery in Saint Domingue.
Watch this PBS Documentary on the Haitian Revolution to get a better idea of the bloodshed and struggle that defined the movement. How did the success of the Haitian Revolution impact other slaveholding societies in the Americas, including those of the United States, Brazil, and Cuba?