"Americans today . . . who live within the Spanish system occupy a position in society no better than that of serfs destined for labor, or at best they have no more status than that of mere consumers. Yet even this status is surrounded with galling restrictions, such as being forbidden to grow European crops, . . . or to establish factories of a type the Peninsula itself does not possess. To this add the exclusive trading privileges, even in articles of prime necessity, and the barriers between American provinces, designed to prevent all exchange of trade, traffic, and understanding. In short, do you wish to know what our future held?—simply the cultivation of fields . . .cattle raising . . . hunting wild game . . . mining gold."
Simón Bolívar, Letter from Jamaica, 1815

Bolívar's reaction to Spanish policies in the Americas is best understood in the context of which of the following?

A) Plans by abolitionists to force the passage of laws ending chattel slavery and indentured servitude
B) Attempts by Enlightenment thinkers to influence resistance to existing political authority
C) Desire of suffragists to expand the franchise to women and the poor
D) Efforts by intellectuals to critique the role that religion played in public life
B) Attempts by Enlightenment thinkers to influence