Discussion Question(s) Clearly there is potential for major problems as the Bourbon Reforms are enacted over much of the 18th century. What were those problems? In what way do you think the Spanish crown could have lessened the pain of these reforms while still maintaining control over the Spanish colonies? Or was there no hope? (and if there was no hope, why do you say that?) Lecture 11 Wen I was a young undergraduate (at a community college in southern California that will remain nameless-- I will give you all one guess in our discussion forum), I remember the week that my class was to discuss The Bourbon Reforms.  Sadly, it was not about what I was hoping. Sigh. Nonetheless, I remember being really interested in what was happening, because it was at this point in the class that I started to see the long chain of events that led to independence throughout most Latin American countries. See, before I learned about the Bourbon Reforms, I was under the impression that the Independence movements (and wars) in Latin America happened from the bottom-up, which is to say that I thought they were led by Mestizos, Castas, and indigenous folks.  For example, think of Mexico: Father Hidalgo, a priest and a champion of the peasant classes in New Spain (Mexico), he brings all these different people together-- people who have been stepped on for too long by colonial powers, and he issues "El Grito,", which was a unified cry of the underrepresented people for independence! Together, they would finally throw off the yoke of Spanish oppression and lead their own country to INDEPENDENCE! Yaaaaaayyyyy! Sadly, it didn't happen like that.  Yes, Father Hidalgo did issue "El Grito de Dolores," but the conditions that led to the independence movement in New Spain (and the changing of its name to Mexico) didn't hit the peasants the hardest (the peasants were already being hit pretty hard), and the Independence movement was not led by peasants, the working classes, nor the indigenous people-- even if they did spark it. In fact, some say that Father Hidalgo and the people following him didn't want independence...they just wanted a better king. But let's save that disappointment for later. See, when I took that class and learned what the Bourbon Reforms were, I started to understand why independence happened throughout much of Latin America in the early 19th century (1800s).  The Bourbon Reforms (and the Caroline Reforms within them) were a set of political, economic, and administrative changes that came from Spain. Now, speaking quite generally, one of the biggest changes was one that happened gradually, then suddenly: the termination of the sale of  audiencia  positions. See, up until this point, much of Spanish Latin America operated on that old saying that I have brought up a few times, " obedezco pero no cumplo ", which roughly translated means, "I obey but I do not comply." (you may have a better translation-- give it a shot in the forum!)  .

1. Discussion Question(s)
Clearly there is potential for major problems as the Bourbon
Reforms are enacted over much of the 18th century. What were
those problems? In what way do you think the Spanish crown
could have lessened the pain of these reforms while still
maintaining control over the Spanish colonies? Or was there no
hope? (and if there was no hope, why do you say that?)
Lecture 11
Wen I was a young undergraduate (at a community college in
southern California that will remain nameless-- I will give you
all one guess in our discussion forum), I remember the week
that my class was to discuss The Bourbon Reforms.
Sadly, it was not about what I was hoping.
Sigh.
Nonetheless, I remember being really interested in what was
happening, because it was at this point in the class that I started
to see the long chain of events that led to independence
throughout most Latin American countries.
See, before I learned about the Bourbon Reforms, I was under
the impression that the Independence movements (and wars) in
Latin America happened from the bottom-up, which is to say
that I thought they were led by Mestizos, Castas, and
indigenous folks. For example, think of Mexico: Father

2. Hidalgo, a priest and a champion of the peasant classes in New
Spain (Mexico), he brings all these different people together--
people who have been stepped on for too long by colonial
powers, and he issues "El Grito,", which was a unified cry of
the underrepresented people for independence! Together, they
would finally throw off the yoke of Spanish oppression and lead
their own country to INDEPENDENCE! Yaaaaaayyyyy!
Sadly, it didn't happen like that.
Yes, Father Hidalgo did issue "El Grito de Dolores," but the
conditions that led to the independence movement in New Spain
(and the changing of its name to Mexico) didn't hit the peasants
the hardest (the peasants were already being hit pretty hard),
and the Independence movement was not led by peasants, the
working classes, nor the indigenous people-- even if they did
spark it. In fact, some say that Father Hidalgo and the people
following him didn't want independence...they just wanted a
better king.
But let's save that disappointment for later.
See, when I took that class and learned what the Bourbon
Reforms were, I started to understand why independence
happened throughout much of Latin America in the early 19th
century (1800s).
The Bourbon Reforms (and the Caroline Reforms within them)
were a set of political, economic, and administrative changes
that came from Spain.
Now, speaking quite generally, one of the biggest changes was
one that happened gradually, then suddenly: the termination of

3. the sale of
audiencia
positions. See, up until this point, much of Spanish Latin
America operated on that old saying that I have brought up a
few times, "
obedezco pero no cumplo
", which roughly translated means, "I obey but I do not
comply." (you may have a better translation-- give it a shot in
the forum!)
Anyway, up until this point,
audiencia
positions were often sold to the highest bidder-- these were
appointed political positions that gave the people in them quite
a little bit of power. It wasn't quite to the level of a viceroy,
which was appointed by the king, but it was about as close as
you could get-- especially if you were a criollo-- oops! I think I
may have given it away!
A quick reminder:
"
Criollo
", or Creole = person who has pure Spanish blood but was born
in the Americas
Peninsular =
person who has pure Spanish blood and was born in Spain
(these designations will be important)
Anyway, a couple things happened. First, he started sending
people from Spain to New Spain (and other colonies) to run
things. As a result, you guessed it-- the people who used to be
in charge (Criollos) were no longer in charge. They were

4. replaced by
Peninsulares,
or people from Spain.
Philip V (the Bourbon) also sent people to the Americas to see
what was happening with tax collection, especially in New
Spain (Mexico). New Spain had been bringing in the cash to the
Spanish crown for sometime now, and Philip V wanted to make
sure that they were getting as much out of it as possible. So he
sent some people there to investigate, to see what was
happening. Well, his investigators found out that there as a
bunch of corruption and inefficiency, although the investigators
couldn't really do anything about it. In fact, the sale of
appointments continued until 1750. But after that, the selling of
appointments stopped. And guess who benefitted from this
change? Yes,
Peninsulares
-- once again, the
Criollos
get shut out of the process.
And all this was happening while the entire colonial Spanish
population was increasing (well, almost all. Check your reading,
page 285)!
The point I am making here is that while massive demographic
growth was occurring in Spanish America, the crown was so
interested in making sure that the colonies were running a tight
ship financially that they shut out a lot of the people who were
benefitting most from the system, which was the
Criollos.
So now, in the name of cleaning up an administrative mess, the
Spanish Crown (Philip V) starts giving more power to people
who were born in Spain. This leaves

5. Criollos
out in the cold a little bit, right?
Now during the 1700s (and into the 1800s), the Enlightenment
Era is happening. People are starting to think differently about
everything. They are questioning institutions like slavery, they
are questioning what humanity means, and most of all, they are
questioning the divine right of kings, and figuring out that
maybe there were different ways to run a country...
Hmmm....
From the
Criollo
perspective, what are they supposed to do? Little by little,
whatever power they had access to was disappearing (the
Bourbon Reforms reasserted Peninsular control of the highest
levels of government that
Criollos
could achieve), and now there were new ways of thinking that
were making it to the Americas (criollos would have had more
direct contact with the Enlightenment and the works of such
philosophers, but they would have also heard about it
indirectly)...so now what happens?
Next week, we get deeper into the reforms, and things get worse
for everyone. In the short run, and the long run.