For decades various Christian denominations have sent summer groups from their varied churches to the Caribbean Islands as well as to Mexico and Central American countries in order to spread the Word of God and demonstrate Christian action through the good works of church building. This is the ever on-going nature of American missions, started as a strong movement in the 19th Century.

Both before the Civil War, as a result of the Second Great Awakening, and after the Civil War Protestants sent missionaries to Asia, Africa, and South America. In some cases they established hospitals and schools while teaching the Gospel. This zeal continues until this day, even though imperialistic national motives are no longer in force.

The notion that Imperialism begat missions or the other way around has been debated for many years. Liberal academics point to examples of American and European missions working side by side with their respective governments civil servants and military cohorts. As nations declared their independence, they nationalized western businesses such as oil companies and mines producing precious stones as well as needed elements such as copper and zinc. 

Additionally, missionaries were sent packing, in some areas violently. Nuns in the Congo, for example, were murdered because they identified, as a group, with the utter brutality of the Belgian overlords.

In China, missionaries were chased out of the country by the Communists and fledgling Christians started to operate underground. Large groups such as the Catholics wanted to protect their investments and assets and leaned to making deals with the Communists. The Vatican and Peking still trifle over who has ultimate say over the elevation of bishops. 

But in the twenty-first century, churches seeking to spread the Gospel plan trips to build and/or repair churches, build new structures, and basically strengthen the infrastructure of a church in the Dominican Republic or Nicaragua, or Colombia, or a dozen other South American nations. Meanwhile, their citizens long to come to America.

It could be anywhere. I recently drove past a local church advertising such a project and, of course, requesting money. It was the downtown area. Although the city has greatly improved and upgraded these streets, there are still many homeless people encamped in parks and in remote parking areas. The city has safe places like Samaritan's Kitchen, but there iare limitations on numbers served. 

Homelessness is a serious problem in the United States. In Greensboro, North Carolina, the state has bought the old, defunct Hebrew Academy and will turn it into a sanctuary for unaccompanied Mexican children up to the age of 18. So far, 800 will be housed there. But that doesn't address the indigenous homeless problem.

This points to the fact that we have people in our midst that need Jesus. We do not need to spend countless dollars to fly to another country when the need is great in our very backyard. It is a need for food, for shelter, for education, and for jobs that are skill training. 

We need the old American Settlement Houses for our Rio Grande swimming fellow humans. I myself am an immigrant as were my parents. We all learned skills and my parents capitalized on their European skills. We made it. I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm alive and "making it."

Foreign missions must begin in our own back yard.Christians in other poorer countries must be taught how to alleviate poverty in their communities and live Jesus everyday as a living example.   

 

Early 19th Century Revolutionary Movements

Although unified by nationalistic goals, the various revolutionary movements in the wake of the 1815 Congress of Vienna were the products of various motives and ideals.

The years after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte and the reestablishment of legitimate rulers by the Congress of Vienna were marked by growing demands for political, social, and economic change among some Europeans. Napoleon, who once referred to himself as nothing more than an “upstart soldier” in a letter to Austria’s Prince Metternich, had unleashed powerful forces within the continental empires and kingdoms. Nationalism, frequently fueled by 19th century liberal values, challenged the reimposed power structures founded on strict principles of conservatism.

Post Congress Revolutions

Revolution and popular unrest broke out throughout Europe following the Congress of Vienna. Their causes were many: ethnic nationalism, reaction to unacceptable political institutions, the desire for independence, resistance to efforts at recolonization (Central and South America), and idealistic motivations.

Early 19th Century revolutions included

• Spain in 1820
• Naples in 1820
• Greece in 1821
• Russia in 1825
• France in 1830

Unrest in Poland, Hungary, Belgium, and Serbia can also be attributed to nationalistic movements while in Central and South America former Spanish colonies declared their independence.

The reaction of the great European powers was mixed. Britain was chiefly interested in its commercial empire and resisted direct intervention, particularly after the death of Lord Castlereagh. The Decembrist Revolt in Russia required no intervention. In St. Petersburg, the new Tsar, Nicholas I, easily suppressed the small group of elite officers behind the revolutionary plot.

Greece, however, was another matter. Greek independence from the archaic Ottoman Empire was supported by Britain, chiefly for strategic reasons that meshed with global economic policies. Additionally, European intellectuals and Romanticists like the poet Lord Byron idealistically identified Greece with its classical and democratic past.

Revolutionary Activity Crushed

Poland had struggled to regain independence ever since the final partition of its lands by Prussia, Austria, and Russia. Under Napoleon, the Duchy of Warsaw reappeared briefly, but lost any semblance of self-rule after a series of revolts were crushed by Tsar Nicholas I in 1832.

Student unrest within the thirty-nine states of the German Confederation resulted in harsh restrictions placed on universities by Austria’s Prince Metternich. Metternich’s Carlsbad Decrees dissolved student organizations and imposed censorship not only on written material, but on what was being taught. Many of these students championed a united Germany, a similar goal found among young Italians.

In Russia, Nicholas I, referred to as the “Iron Tsar,” issued restrictions that forbade Russians from attending European universities and strengthening censorship. Not until the end of the Crimean War when Alexander II became Tsar would these restrictions be lifted.

Revolutionary Activity Supported

The Haitian Revolt, led by Toussaint L’Ouverture, was one of the first “New World” successful endeavors. Taking place during the time of Napoleon’s reign, its success was clandestinely supported by Britain and ultimately resulted in the Louisiana Territory sale to the United States in 1803.

After the defeat of Napoleon, other Spanish colonies declared independence. Leaders like Simon Bolivar, the so-called “George Washington of South America,” led efforts to end Spanish hegemony. Spain was in no position to challenge these movements.

By the end of the Napoleonic Era, Britain had established lucrative trade agreements with many newly independent countries and in 1823 the United States issued the Monroe Doctrine, blocking Spain – or any European country, from attempting to recolonize the hemisphere.

Incremental Successes of Revolutionary Goals

Revolutionary activity continued in Europe throughout the 19th Century but only achieved modest success. Although Alexander II feed the Russian serfs in 1861, he was assassinated by revolutionaries before he could begin the process of granting Russians a constitution. In England, Parliamentary efforts like the Great Reform Bill addressed political inequities, but much remained to be done. Even in France, where revolutions in 1830 and 1848 began with promise, ruling elites soon turned back the tide of reform.

Sources:

• Charles Breunig, The Age of Revolution and Reaction, 1789-1850 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1970)
• C. Edmund Maurice, The Revolutionary Movement of 1848-9 in Italy, Austria-Hungary, and Germany with some Examination of the Previous Thirty-Three Years (New York: Greenwood Press, 1969)

Michael Streich

Former Adjunct Instructor, History & Global Studies

Posted on Jul 8, 2009

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