As a statesman he embraced the political and social philosophies profounded by revolutionaries in Anglo-American and in France, but he always gave those philosophies his own interpretations. He probably sensed better than anyone else of his age the kinds of political systems best suited to the new republics burdened as they were by their colonial inheritance. As a political leader he preferred conceptualization to administration. He accepted presidencies on many occasions but invariably he left to his vice-presidents the responsibility of implementing official policies. As a prophet he saw with cunning insight the future of Spanish America. He predicted the segmentation of Spanish America. He forecast that Chile would prove to be the most orderly of the new republics. He identified the forces that would lead to instability, and he prophesied, with a remarkable accuracy, the role that the military would play as a force in political anarchy. As an internationalist he was responsible for the calling of the Panama Conference of 1826. It fell short of his expectations but it was nonetheless the forerunner of the Organization of American States. Some internationalists credit Bolivar with planting the seeds of the League of Nations and the United Nations.

In many respects, Bolivar personified the great trends of that age, for in his lifetime he played the varied parts of Jacob in conspirator, military hero, state-builder, nationalist, and hemisphere leader. He has many roles within the context of his life, for only by placing him within the framework of the Enlightenment Reform which preceded the Independence Movement and Creole Reaction which followed, is possible to evaluate his achievement.

Civil wars sometimes forced him to postpone victories or to absent himself from triumphs. At other times, they destroyed the fruits of his victories. His triumphs in the name of liberty and his refusal to be diverted from his ultimate objective by domestic differences made him the epitome of a generation who fought for freedom.