THE ADAPTATION OF A DIPLOMAT TO THE TIME OF WARS OF INDEPENDENCE AND LIBERAL REVOLUTION. LUIS DE ONÍS BEFORE THE EXPANSIONISM OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE EMANCIPATION OF IBEROAMÉRICA, 1809-1922

Abstract

Luis de Onís was a “pre-liberal” diplomat, who developed diplomatic activities
for forty years both in Europe and America between the Ancien Regime and the
liberal Triennium, known above all for the 1819 Treaty with the United States.
He is an example of the adaptation of the elites in the transition to the
contemporary age. From sources deposited in the National Historical Archive
and the General Archive of the Indies, it was analyzed its vision of Ibero-America
and the means proposed to contain its emancipation, highlighting its proposals
of a more radical and realistic character with respect to the generality of the
Spanish political class.