How and why did the process of nation-state consolidation vary across the Americas?

The American nations that gained their independence between 1783 and 1825 (see Chapter 22) faced similar challenges, but they responded with different strategies. At the moment of their independence, none of the nations of the Americas had consolidated what would become their national territory. Across the continent, independent indigenous societies resisted or negotiated their often-violent incorporation into the new nations. Some of these groups sustained their autonomy until the twentieth century.

The consolidation of new nations often took place violently. In countries such as Mexico and Argentina new governments failed to establish the trust needed for political stability. In the United States tensions and disagreements that had simmered since independence culminated in the Civil War, while in Cuba nationalists fought a long struggle for independence from Spain. While the political framework most commonly adopted was liberal republicanism, independent Brazil remained a monarchy until 1889. Independent Canada adopted a parliamentary system and retained a symbolic role for the British monarch.