Group 2: The Bourbon Reforms

What are the Bourbon Reform?

The Bourbon Reform goes back way back, Bourbon Reform takes place mainly in the 1780s all the way to 1792. During the Bourbon Reform, many events happened that made this a historical event. This has been a hard and fast financial and political legal guideline. The Bourbon Reforms, named after the Bourbons of France, marked a dynasty of power in Spain and its colonies. The Bourbon Reforms were a set of policies and changes to the Spanish empire to increase profits and to become a bigger power than the United States and Great Britain (Ricketts 413). The Reforms included changes to the economy like lowering money collections in Spain (Library of Congress) but enforcing tax collections in their colonies (Charlip & Burns 66). Other reforms include the strengthening of their military with an extreme focus on Peru, a Spanish colony, which was said to be the strongest military in the empire at the end of the 18th century (Ricketts 418-419).

What role did it have on Latin America?

The Bourbon Reforms were intended to reform the government, increase the government’s control of the economy, as well as to limit the power of the Church (Charlip & Burns 63). They had a great impact on the economic success of Latin America. By 1786, an efficient and independent fiscal administration was established in Latin America as a result of indigo and cattle trades (Wortman 236). This created meaningful revenue for the Crown which was one of the main goals of the Bourbon Reforms.

Time Period and Consequences.

The Bourbon Reforms were in uttermost effort by the Bourbon Monarchs in the late colonial period. They were established by the 1700's and lasted through many years dating to 1808. At this time, Municipal government became an object of reform and a chief instrument of Bourbon organization. The Bourbons did such as reorganize local government, but also imposed many new taxes from 1777 to mid-1780s. The taxes caused much legal and great resistance by the Spanish town of Saltillo (Cuello 301).

The initial intentions of the Bourbons were to reform government and increase that control of the economy, while limiting power from the church. Although the reforms had been affective in gaining revenue and increasing production of silver in Spanish America, it posed the domestic industries negatively. They were also flawed with the fact that the reformers failed to regain command of the American trade. The reform had several cracks within, including the imperfections surrounding the precedors to Charles lll and their ideas (Charlip & Burns 63).

Illustrative Example. How the reforms explain how event played out.

To start off, the Spanish monarchy selected lieutenants from their country or people they saw fit to rule to their colonies to watch over them. These lieutenants were given the title of viceroy and held similar power to the Spanish monarchy which thrilled them in a way. Then the spanish started using this audiencia system in conquest of latin america, ‘From their inception in 1511 in Santo Domingo, the crown hoped that the audiencias would serve at least two basic purposes: they would provide the conquistadors and other Spanish settlers with access to justice, particularly in terms of settling their multiplying internecine quarrels; and they would help to protect the new Spanish subjects-the indians, who had become central to the justification of Spain’s dominion over the Indies since the issuing of the Alexandrine Bulls-from abuse at the hands of the conquistadors.’(Barroso 30). While this system was thoughtful, the monarch eventually grew power hungry once civilizations grew and would enforce more laws and change its system of government called the lieutenancy-general institution. ‘The lieutenant-general, for one thing, could combine judicial and governmental functions, thus fulfilling more comprehensively the role of monarchical government in those distant territories. Additionally it allowed for more rapid resolutions than did a collegiate body such as the audiencia. The lieutenancy scheme also offered an advantage as a means of effectively imposing royal rule over the Indies.’(Barroso 32). The Spanish crown found a way to enforce more power on its conquered territories to establish their will. Viceregal courts grew an edge over the viceroys. ‘Despite his wide powers and his stature as physical representation of the king, or rather precisely because of them, the viceroy was not located above the political and social struggles being played out in his court. In fact, he was placed in their(viceregal) very midst and often played a central role whether as a party-negotiating royal policy or demands for increased taxation with the city councils and other corporations or as adjudicator whose favor was sought-in those confrontations between local elites.’ (Barroso 45-46). The viceregal courts council, viceroy, and king worked all together to execute laws.

Then came the distribution of patronage. ‘By receiving patronage, clients became obliged to their patrons, to whom they owed respect and service. In exchange for this loyalty and services, they could expect future favors. In the same way, patrons expected to receive loyalty in exchange for their favors, and were bound to provide future help if they expected their clients to remain loyal.’ (Barroso 46). It was simple if these people did favors for others, they would be rewarded by the crown, but if not they would be punished. These kings tried to mask their intentions through some of these laws to act in the people’s best interest when all they wanted was really more economy for their mother country and to rule over more land. Many people started realizing this later on through the time period and started rebelling as taxation grew too high for them to bear and the laws took away many freedoms they had before and this initiated the Bourbon reforms. These reforms aimed to increase commerce and revenue and they did just that. Some effects were considered to be the change in taxation policy and affecting domestic industries.

Works Cited

Barbier, Jacques A., and Mark A. Burkholder. “Colonial Spanish America, the Bourbon Period.”

The History Teacher, vol. 20, no. 2, 1987, pp. 221–50. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/493030.

Cuello, José. “The Economic Impact of the Bourbon Reforms and the Late Colonial Crisis of the

Empire at the Local Level: The Case of Saltillo, 1777-1817.” The Americas (Washington. 1944), vol. 44, no. 3, 1988, pp. 301–23, https://doi.org/10.2307/1006909.

Charlip, Julie, A. and E. Bradford Burns. Latin America: An Interpretive History. Available from: California State University - Fresno, (10th

Edition). Pearson Education (US), 2016.

Larkin, Brian. The Very Nature of God: Baroque Catholicism and Religious Reform in Bourbon

Mexico City. 1st version, University of New Mexico Press, 2010, ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csufresno/reader.action?docID=1118967, Accessed 31 Oct. 2022.

Ricketts, Mónica. “The Rise of the Bourbon Military in Peru, 1768–1820.” Colonial Latin

American Review, vol. 21, no. 3, Dec. 2012, pp. 413–39. EBSCOhost, https://doi-org.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/10.1080/10609164.2012.730666.

Royal Order of July 9, 1750 issued by King Fernando VI, reducing the collection of annuities

from the Kingdom of Aragón from five per cent to three per cent in compliance with the Royal Order published onissued for the Kingdoms of Castille and León. [Spain: publisher not identified, July 9, 1750] Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2018751545/>.

Wortman, Miles. “Bourbon Reforms in Central America: 1750-1786.” The Americas, vol. 32, no. 2, Oct. 1975, pp. 222–238.,

https://doi.org/10.2307/980660