Paris Act, December 1797
摘要
The analysed document was conceived by Miranda to self-legitimize himself as the official representative of the Spanish colonies of America before his return to London and to convince William Pitt about the significance of his “constitution” project for Hispanic America. In addition, this formal document was an attempt to strengthen Miranda’s credibility in international diplomacy compared to other Latin American patriots by clarifying the geopolitical vision he envisioned for the future federal State. This purely Miranda-style document reflects an unprecedented coherence compared with other independence projects: this Act affirms both the Hispanic-American identity and its right to self-determination, on which it establishes a platform of representation, principles and international cooperation to bargain Treaties of geo-political, economic and monetary alliances with the only two existing democratic countries at that time (the US and the UK). The platform established an official structure for coordinating the independence actions of the Spanish-American colonies, known as the “Board of Deputies of the Peoples and Provinces of South America.”