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The Church and Spanish American Agrarian Structure: 1765–1865

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Arnold Bauer
Arnold Bauer*
Affiliation:
University of California, Davis, California
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Extract

During the century between 1765 and 1865, the double impact of the industrial and agricultural revolutions brought profound change to rural society in Europe and North America. In England, the enclosure movement and the innovations associated with “ high farming ” culminated in the destruction of the English peasantry and the growth of a productive rural capitalism that underlay Victorian industrial development. On the continent new crop rotations and improved animals increased output while political revolution resulted in drastic changes in European agrarian structure and in the lives of lord and peasant. In North America (and in such regions as Australia and New Zealand) wholly new rural societies were created as population grew and rail and steam began to put these peripheral zones within reach of the industrial world.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , July 1971 , pp. 78 - 98
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1971

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References

1 Moore, Barrington Jr., Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy: Lord and Peasant in the Making of the Modern World (Beacon Press paperback ed., Boston, 1967),Google Scholar does not deal with Spanish America but contains interesting hypotheses.

2 Cf. Wolf, Eric and Mintz, Sidney, “Haciendas and Plantations in Middle America and the Antilles,” Social and Economic Studies, Vol. 6, No. 1 (March, 1957), pp. 380–412.Google Scholar These criteria obviously exclude such regions as Cuba and the late 19th century Argentine Pampa.

3 See, for example, Bancroft Microfilm, AGN, “Padrones” v. 5 for 1792 description of the Subdelegation of Aguascalientes. For Chile see: Góngora, Mário, “Vagabundaje y sociedad fronteriza en Chile (Siglos xvii a xix)” Cuadernos del Centro de Estudios Socioeconómicos, No. 2 (Santiago, 1966).Google Scholar

4 Donghi, Tulio Halperín, Historia contemporánea de América Latina (Madrid, 1969), Ch. 1 and 2.Google Scholar

5 Cuevas, Mariano S. J., Historia de la iglesia en México 5th ed. (5 vols., Mexico, 1946-7) IV, pp. 504–5.Google Scholar

6 Chevalier, François, Land and Society in Colonial Mexico: The Great Hacienda. Edited with foreword by Simpson, Lesley B.. Trans. Eustis, Alvin (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1963), p. 235.Google Scholar

7 Colmenares, Germán, Haciendas de los Jesuitas en el Nuevo Reino de Granada, siglo XVIII (Bogotá, 1969), p. 97.Google Scholar

8 Macera, Pablo, “Instrucciones para el manejo de las haciendas jesuitas del Perú (ss. XVII-XVIII)” Nueva Crónica Vol. 2 (Lima, 1966), pp. 5–49.Google Scholar

9 Arana, Diego Barros, Historia general de Chile (12 vols. 2 ed., Santiago, 1930–1940), Vol. VI, pp. 316–26.Google Scholar

10 Fontana, Esteban, “La expulsión de los jesuitas de Mendoza y sus repercusiones económicas,” Revista Chilena de Historia y Geografía, No. 130 (Santiago, 1962), pp. 47–115.Google Scholar See also: Colección de documentos relativos a la expulsión de los jesuitas de la república argentina y del Paraguay (Madrid, 1872).

11 Chevalier, , Land and Society, p. 239.Google Scholar

12 Instrucciones a los hermanos jesuitas administradores de haciendas. Prologue and notes by Chevalier, F. (Mexico, 1950).Google Scholar See also: Macera, “Instrucciones.”

13 Arana, Barros, Historia, Vol. 6, p. 318.Google Scholar Macera, , “Instrucciones,” p. 38.Google Scholar

14 de Fonseca, Fabian and de Urrutia, Carlos, Historia general de la real hacienda (6 vols., Mexico, 1852),Google Scholar Vol. V has an entire section on the various decrees and regulations that dealt with the expulsion and administration of Jesuit property.

15 Fonseca, and Urrutia, , Real hacienda, V, pp. 121–191.Google Scholar

16 de Terreros, Manuel Romero, El Conde de Regla: creso de la Nueva España (Mexico, 1943), pp. 131–4.Google Scholar

17 Colmenares, , Haciendas, pp. 133–6.Google Scholar

18 Macera, , “Instrucciones,” pp. 8–10.Google Scholar See also Ugarte, Rubén Vargas, Historia de la compañía de Jesús en el Perú (Burgos, 1965), IV, pp. 205–09.Google Scholar Vargas Ugarte’s figures (taken from Viceroy Amat’s Relación de gobierno) are slightly higher than Macera’s apparently because they include some urban property.

19 Arana, Barros, Historia, 6, pp. 321–3.Google Scholar See also Fontana, , “La expulsión,” pp. 67–74.Google Scholar

20 de Terreros, Romero, El Conde, pp. 134.Google Scholar See also by the same author, Antiguas haciendas de México (Mexico, 1956).

21 Alamán, Lucas, Historia de Méjico (5 vols., Mexico, 1849-52) I, p. 101.Google Scholar See also: Brading, D. A., “La minería de la plata en el siglo XVIII: el caso Bolaños,” Historia Mexicana, Vol. 18, No. 3 (Jan.-March, 1969), pp. 317–333.Google Scholar

22 Colmenares, , Haciendas, p. 134.Google Scholar

23 Another effect of the expulsion was that the output of the Jesuit estates soon dropped as the efficiency obtained under the hand of the zealous fathers decayed. The expulsion, while it provided an avenue of upward mobility and the chance for some hacendados to aggrandize their holdings, also dealt a severe blow to the agricultural economy of Spanish America. We are not concerned here with the effect on education, the missions, etc.

24 Restrepo, Juan Pablo, La iglesia y el estado en Colombia (London, 1885), p. 255.Google Scholar Bazant, Jan, Alienation of Church Wealth in Mexico (Cambridge, 1971).Google Scholar

25 Holleran, Mary P., Church and State in Guatemala (New York, 1949), pp. 58–9.Google Scholar

26 de Terreros, Romero, Antiguas haciendas, p. 47.Google Scholar

27 Basadre, Jorge, Historia de la república del Perú (5th ed., 11 Vols. Lima, 1961-68), II, p. 606–9.Google Scholar

28 Memoria de Hacienda 1869-70, “Anexo I: Director de rentas,” pp. 14-18. In 1837-8 these “documents of credit” circulated at about 10 per cent of the face value. See Basadre, , Historia, 2, pp. 595–6.Google Scholar See also: Piel, Jean, “The Place of the Peasantry in the National Life of Peru in the Nineteenth Century,” Past and Present, No. 46 (February, 1970), pp. 108–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

29 Bazant, Jan, “La desamortización de los bienes corporativos en 1856,” Historia Mexicana, Vol. 16, no. 2 (Oct.-Dec, 1966), pp. 192–211;Google Scholar and in the Alienation of Church Wealth. See also his volume: Historia de la deuda exterior de Mexico (1823-1946) (Mexico, 1968).

30 Bazant, “La desamortización de los bienes,” p. 209 shows that mainly professionals and merchants acquired land.

31 Cf. Chevalier, , Land and Society, p. 253.Google Scholar See also: Knowlton, Robert J., “Chaplaincies and the Mexican Reform,” Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 48, No. 3 (August, 1968), pp. 421–437,CrossRefGoogle Scholar and Lavrín, Asunción, “The Role of the Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century,” Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Nov., 1966), pp. 371–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar All of these show that liens were by far the most common form of endowment. On the other hand Hamnett, Brian R., “The Appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth by the Spanish Bourbon Government—The “Consolidación de ‘Vales Reales’ 1805-1809,” Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 1, Part 2 (Nov., 1969), p. 86,CrossRefGoogle Scholar thinks it was done through “donating in a legacy a sum of cash.” Caballero’s, Romeo Flores recent La contrarevolución en la independencia (El Colegio de Mexico, 1969), p. 31,Google Scholar also states that it was done by the “depósito de una suma de dinero.”

32 Fonseca, y Urrutia, , Real hacienda, 5, p. 121.Google Scholar

33 Colmenares, , Haciendas, p. 68.Google Scholar

34 Bancroft Microfilm, AGN “Padrones,” Vol. 5.

35 Arana, Barros, Historia, Vol. 7, p. 312.Google Scholar For Venezuela, see: Waiters, Mary, A History of the Church in Venezuela 1810-1930 (Chapel Hill, 1933), pp. 179–80.Google Scholar

36 The text of the decree is in: AGN “Reales cédulas” Vol. 192, No. 141. I consulted this in Bancroft Microfilms, AGN “Reales Cédulas” reel 102.

37 Hamnett, , “The appropriation of Mexican Church Wealth …,” p. 110.Google Scholar The descriptive quotation of Mexico in the 18th cenutry is from Abad, Manuel y Queipo, , “Representación a nombre de los labradores y comerciantes de Valladolid …” in in Mora, J. M. L., Obras sueltas (2nd ed., Mexico, 1963), pp. 214–30,Google Scholar one of several writings that opposed the royal decree. Notice that the decree gave officials power to sell at auction those estates whose owners were not able to redeem the obligations. Obviously, this caused protests and in the end few estates were sold.

38 Groot, José Manuel, Historia eclesiástica y civil de Nueva Granada (2nd ed., 5 Vols., Bogotá, 1889-93), II, p. 407–8.Google Scholar Arana, Barros, Historia, Vol. 7, p. 313.Google Scholar

39 Watters, , History, 180.Google Scholar “La guerra de independencia y el crédito agrícola,” in: Documentos para la historia del crédito agrícola (Banco nacional de crédito agrícola y ganadero, Mexico, 1953), Vol. I.

40 Costeloe, Michael, Church Wealth in Mexico: A Study of the ‘Juzgado de Capellanías’ in the Archbishopric of Mexico 1800-1856 (Cambridge, 1967), p. 73, 78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

41 This imagined monologue is in Restrepo, , La iglesia y el estado, p. 328.Google Scholar

42 Restrepo, , La iglesia, p. 487.Google Scholar

43 Restrepo, , La iglesia, pp. 328–32.Google Scholar Note moreover that the $9,000 could be paid in devalued bonds.

44 Memoria de Hacienda, 1869-70, “Anexo I.” See also Basadre, , Historia, 2, 584.Google Scholar

45 See: Memoria de Hacienda for years 1827 and 1868.

46 Data on censos and capellanías redeemed is in Resúmen de la hacienda pública (London, 1917?) Pesos are of constant value of 44 pence. Note that for simplicity I assume that all obligations were on rural property. In fact, most but not all were. Furthermore, not all—but most—recipients of censos and capellanía annuities were ecclesiastical.

47 Bazant, Alienation of Church Wealth.

48 No study of the effect this had on charity, education, health (hospitals), the condition of the lower classes, nor on the number of clergy is available.

49 Abad, Manuel y Queipo, , Representación… and Escrito presentado a don Manuel Sixto Espinoza, del consejo de estado…. Both in: Mora, J. M. L., Obras sueltas (2nd ed., Mexico, 1963).Google Scholar

50 Humboldt, Alexander Von, Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (4 vols., 2nd ed., London, 1814), 3, pp. 99;Google Scholar Mora, J. M. L., “Disertación sobre los bienes del clero,” Obras sueltas; Méjico y sus revoluciones (3 vols., Paris, 1837);Google Scholar Lucas Alamán, Historia.

51 Phipps, Helen, Some Aspeas of the Agrarian Question in Mexico (Austin, 1925), pp. 49–59;Google Scholar Mecham, J. Lloyd, Church and State in Latin America (Chapel Hill, 1934), pp. 46–48;Google Scholar Gruening, Ernest, Mexico and its Heritage (New York, 1928), pp. 171–83;Google Scholar Callcott, Wilfred H., Church and State in Mexico; 1822-1851 (Durham, N. C., 1926).Google Scholar

52 Costeloe, Church Wealth; María Eugenia Horvitz Vásquez, “Ensayo sobre crédito en Chile colonial.” (Unpublished memoria in the Instituto Pedagógico of the University of Chile, 1966.)

53 Abad y Queipo, Escrito in: Obras sueltas, p. 231.

54 Flores, , La contrarevolución, pp. 29–30 Google Scholar; Hamnett, , “Appropriation,” p. 87 Google Scholar; Costeloe, , Church Wealth, pp. 111–2.Google Scholar Farriss, , Crown and Clergy in Colonial Mexico (London, 1968), pp. 163–4.Google Scholar

55 Abad y Queipo, “Representación a nombre ...” in Obras sueltas, p. 219. See also article 15 of the 1804 decree. (Italics added.)

56 Chevalier, , Land and Society, p. 253 Google Scholar; Knowlton, , “Chaplaincies,” pp. 421–37.Google Scholar

57 Hamnett, , “Appropriation,” p. 113.Google Scholar

58 Alamán, , Historia, 1, pp. 240–1Google Scholar; Bancroft, H. H., History of Mexico (San Francisco, 1886), IV, p. 53.Google Scholar

59 Costeloe, , Church Wealth, pp. 87–8.Google Scholar

60 Horvitz, “Ensayo sobre crédito,” Ch. 3.

61 Macera, , “Instrucciones,” pp. 7–8 Google Scholar. See also Documentos sobre la expulsión de los jesuitas y ocupación de sus Temporalidades en Nueva España (1772-1783) (Mexico, 1949), pp. 27-53, which gives lists of outstanding debts and obligations.

62 Fonseca, y Urrutia, , Real hacienda, 5, pp. 192–3.Google Scholar

63 Lavrín, “Nunneries” p. 392. This figure however may include some encumbrances (liens) as well as loans.

64 Cf. Costeloe, , Church Wealth, p. 29, 103.Google Scholar

65 Brading, David A., Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico: 1763-1810 (Cambridge Univ. Press, to appear 1971),Google Scholar demonstrates the importance of merchant credit in the economy generally, and shows that the church deposited money with merchants at 5 per cent. The merchants then lent money—taking a higher risk—at nine per cent.

86 Bazant, Alienation of Church Wealth.

67 Horvitz, “Ensayo sobre crédito,” Ch. 3, stresses the importance of merchant credit in Chile.

68 Tyrer, Robson, “Notes on the Late Eighteenth Century Agrarian History of León” (Unpublished manuscript on xerox, Berkeley, 1968), pp. 10–14.Google Scholar

69 Flores, , La contrarevolución, p. 78.Google Scholar

70 Costeloe, , Church Wealth, p. 27.Google Scholar

71 Bazant, Alienation of Church Wealth. See also: Bazant, Jan, Historia de la deuda exterior de Mexico: 1823-1946 (Mexico, 1968), Ch. 2 and 3.Google Scholar

72 Basadre, , Historia, 2, 56.Google Scholar

73 Bauer, Arnold J., “Chilean Rural Society in the Nineteenth Century” (Unpublished Ph. D. thesis in History, Berkeley, 1969), Ch. 4.Google Scholar I do not mean to imply that foreign capital flooded America at this time because large investments did not come until the late nineteenth century. But if merchant capital was only available in modest quantity, one must remember that huge credit resources were never available or for that matter needed by estates in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

74 Atropos, , “El inquilino en Chile,” Revista del Pacífico, No. 5 (1861),Google Scholar shows that estate workers in central Chile hardly knew that Independence had come. Luís González’ “ micro-history “ of a small village in Michoacán gives the same picture: Pueblo en vilo (Mexico, 1968), pp. 64–83.

75 An excellent recent summary of this process is in Tulio Halperín Donghi, Historia contemporánea, Ch. 2–3.

76 Basadre, , Historia, 3, p. 1805.Google Scholar

77 For Chile, see: Borde, Jean and Góngora, Mário, Evolución de la propriedad rural en el valle de Puangue (Santiago, 1956), I, p. 126 Google Scholar; Bauer, “ Chilean Rural Society,” Ch. 3. For Argentina: Ferns, H. S., Britain and Argentina in the Nineteenth Century (Oxford, 1960), pp. 370–1.Google Scholar