The Bourbons never gave any thought to greater self-government in the American colonies, or of permitting them to trade more freely with the non-Spanish world. If anything, the Bourbons centralized colonial administration so as to make it more efficient. The commercial reforms were designed to stop smuggling and end the contraband trade that had flourished for decades and reinforce the exclusive commercial ties between Spain and its colonies. Spain was out to reconquer its colonies, both economically and socially.
The death of Charles II in November of 1700 marked the end of an era in Spanish history and the beginning of another. On his death bed Charles fought desperately to prevent the Spanish empire from being destroyed by political intrigue. The crown was being actively sought by three claimants, the prince of Bavaria, the archduke Charles of Austria, and Luis IV’s grandson, Philip Anjou. Charles decided on the French, Philip Anjou to succeed him. But England was very alarmed over the idea that there would be a union of France and Spain and this precipitated the War for the Spanish Succession that lasted from 1702 to 1713.
The war ended with the treaty of Utrecht which granted to England Gibraltar, Minorca and some important trade concessions in the Spanish Indies and a guarantee against a future accommodation between France and Spain. In addition a later peace treaty gave the Spanish Netherlands and Spain’s Italian possessions to Austria. This was a humiliating defeat for Spain and left the country with a deep and pervasive sense of pessimism and defeatism. These defeats lead to reforms of Spanish institutions. The war showed just how disruptive Spain really was, especially when Aragon, Valencia and Barcelona invited and received the support of English troops.
In September of 1714 a year after the treaty Barcelona surrendered to the Bourbon armies under the leadership of Philip V. The new Bourbon regime made a systematic but unsuccessful effort to eradicate the Catalan language and nationality. The new established peace allowed for the implementation of a program of reform inspired by the French reform model. The reform and revival of Spain is associated under the House of Bourbon. Under a government that could be described as tyrannical the bourbon Kings attempted to completely overhaul the existing political and economic structures and totally renovated Spanish national life.
After the war it was painfully apparent that despite the wealth and grandeur of Spain it was becoming marginal in terms of its national development when compared with other European countries. Only such a sweeping reform could close the gap that separated Spain from its European neighbors and modernize the county so that it too would have a powerful industry, highly productive agricultural sector and growing and prosperous middle class. The reform movement clearly provoked the reaction by the Catholic Church and the nobility as the Bourbon reforms were steeped in French Liberal ideology of the day.
It was a movement based on early French rationalism and Spanish enlightenment that severely criticized the role of the church and the clergy and that society could only be improved by using informed reason and organizing it along rational lines. The early reforms attempted to establish state-owned textile factories and invited foreign technical experts into Spain. Agriculture would be modernized, ship building speeded up and an infrastructure would be built in Spain that would facilitate regional and national economic integration and development.
The power of the Church in politics was severely reduced with the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767. But the reform movement was somewhat still-born for the crown and the political power of the kings was still directly dependent on thousands of bonds to the feudal nobility and church of Spain. The reforms never touched the real problems of Spain which were terrible poverty in the rural sector, feudal labor forms, backward agricultural forms, and the overwhelming influence and wealth of the Catholic Church.
As a result of these socio-economic impediments Spain had no real pool of investment capital to invest in industrial enterprises, consequently had an almost non-existent middle class and remained a third rate power in comparison to Britain, France or Holland. In the American colonies the Bourbon never gave any thought to greater self-government to the colonists or of permitting them to trade more freely with the non-Spanish world, despite the growing contraband trade between the 13 North American colonies and the rest of the Americas. The Bourbons in response centralized colonial administration so as to make it more efficient.
The commercial reforms were designed to stop smuggling and the contraband trade that had flourished for decades and reinforce the exclusive commercial ties between Spain and its colonies. Philip V, the first Bourbon sought to reinforce the flota, or fleet, system which had fallen into decay in the late 17th century and had allowed for a growing contraband trade. This reinforcement was even more pressing in the sense that the Treaty of Utrecht gave the English merchant class who owned the South Sea Company the v right to supply slaves to Spanish America.
It was well-known that the English slave ships also carried contraband cargoes to the Spanish colonies. From the 1760’s the mercantilist system was gradually eliminated to allow for more free trade. In 1778 the famous free-trade decree was promulgated whereby with the exception of Mexico and Venezuela trade would be free between the colonies. In 1789 the decree was extended to all or Spanish America. The success of the Free Trade policy was reflected in a spectacular increase in the value of Spain’s commerce with Spanish America. Between 1778 and 1788 it increased 700%.
This led to the creation of new trading center in SA and new merchant groups emerged as a new and increasingly powerful economic class. The volume of business increased, prices declined and the contraband trade was undercut. Probably the most significant result of the Bourbon Reforms was the boost it gave to economic activity in Spanish America. There was a great increase in agricultural, pastoral and mining production in Spanish America. The production of sugar, indigo, cacao, tobacco hides and other staples rose sharply due to increased European demand for these products and the impact of the Bourbon Reforms.
After 1770, coffee became a major export from Cuba and Venezuela. After 1770, population recovery led to increased demand for the production of foodstuffs. Church records reveal that there was a large increase in agricultural production between 1779 and 1789. The increased agricultural activity was for the most part on plantations that produced cash-crops, not on haciendas. At the end of the 18th century land became more and more concentrated in fewer hands as the haciendas expanded in order to increase their production, profits and pay their heavy debt burdens.
Powerful families emerged who would buy out small land holders and usurp Indian communities in order to expand production. The 18th century saw a revival of silver mining in the colonies. The increase in silver mining as in the case of agriculture was not so much due to capital investment or new technologies, but rather to the recovery of the Indian and labor population. Miners were given fueros and were allowed to organize themselves into a guild. The labor system in the 18th century centered on forced labor despite the Bourbon’s professed dislike of forced labor. The Bourbons sought to tighten the legal enforcement of debt peonage.
Only those peons who had no outstanding debts could move from one hacienda to another legally. In the Andes the Spanish imposed the repartimiento de mercancias which was the forced purchase by Indians of goods from the Spanish and corregidores. Also heavy tribute demands created a need for cash among the Indian ethnicities. This led to the creation of a class of Andean Indian known as the forestero or those who fled the mita and their villages and winded up working on haciendas. In the social and cultural contexts, however, the Spaniards were no different from other Europeans who established colonies in America.
They all imposed their social order and mores on those they conquered. The powerful exploited the weak to enrich themselves. This was an accepted phenomenon in this era. The Bourbon reforms changed the character of New Spain by revising governmental and economic structures. The reforms also prompted renewed migration of Spaniards to the colonies to occupy newly created government and military positions. Commerce, both legal and illegal, was growing, and independent merchants were welcomed. The new monied classes of miners and merchants were the real promoters of the successes of the reforms enacted by the Bourbons.
