An exploration of women's involvement in the Latin American Wars of Independence

Joel Roberts Poinsett

Gender:Male

Ethnic origen: White

Events:

Connections:

Texts:
1824 - Notes on Mexico Made in the Autumn of 1822

Biography:
Born in 1779, he was one of the first US diplomats to post-Independent Spanish America. President Monroe invited him to go to Buenos Aires in 1811, and then to Chile to show US support for independence and the republican governments and to counter British economic influences. In 1827 he was authorised to buy land to extend the US border to the Rio Grande. He was US minister to Mexico for four years from 1825-29, when President Guerrero asked for him to be recalled. (Riedinger, 1094-1096)

He led José Miguel Carrera to believe that the United States would help Chile achieve independence. (Rodríguez, 142)

He was in Mexico 1822, Chile 1823, and Peru. He wrote about the history, politics, geography, agriculture and commerce of Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Peru, the United Provinces of South America and Chile.

His works include Notes on Mexico (1826?). (Romero de Valle, 253)

He met Luis de la Carrera in 1813.

He was a mason. (Racine, 538)

Folsom states that Pointsett was "to some extent instrumental in promoting the organization of the York lodge [in Mexico]; he was also charged with fomenting the troubles of the country by intrigue, and several of the Mexican legislatures demanded his expulsion on account of his officious inter-meddling as a partisan in their public affairs. These charges finally led to Mr Poinsett’s recall, although he strenuously asserted his innocence in several communications published in the Mexican and American journals. (Folsom, 17-18)

He attended political and literary tertulias in Mexico City in 1823. (Hardy, 510)

He hosted social gatherings. Hardy describes them as follows: “[their] object was to bring the natives and foreigners into more immediate contact, which has a strong tendency to remove at least a portion of those prejudices so natural to those who have seen little of society, and less of the world.” (Hardy, 13-14)

He died in 1853.

References:

Werner, Michael S. (editor). (1997) Encyclopedia of Mexico
Folsom, G. (1842) Mexico in 1842: A Description of the Country, its Natural and Political Features; With a Sketch of its History, Brought Down to the Present Year. To Which is Added an Account of Texas and Yucatan; and of the Santa Fé Expedition
Hardy, R.W.H. (1829) Travels in the Interior of Mexico in 1825, 1826, 1827, &1828,
Rodríguez O., Jaime E. (1998) The Independence of Spanish America
Romero de Valle, Emilia (1966) Diccionario manual de literatura peruana y materias afines