the american and french revolutions gave room to the age of enlightenment, a new era of ideas that rejected the absolute monarchies and favored liberalism instead. spain sought to prevent the expansion of the new ideas across its territories, but many criollos came into contact with them during their university studies, either at the university of chuquisaca or at spain itself. both in spain and the americas, people longed for a new type of government, such as a constitutional monarchy.