The Bourbon Reforms () were a series of political and economic changes promulgated by the Spanish Crown beginning with Charles III and continuing under various kings of the House of Bourbon, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new Crown's power with clear lines of authority to officials contrasted to the complex system of government that had evolved under the Habsburg monarchs.James Lockhart and Stuart B. Schwartz, Early Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 347. The crown pursued state control over the Catholic Church in Spain and throughout the global Spanish Empire, pushed economic reforms, and placed power solely into the hands of civil officials, paving the way for the Enlightenment in Spain. The reforms resulted in significant restructuring of administrative structure and personnel.James Lockhart and Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 347. The reforms were intended to modernise Spain through stimulating manufacturing and technology.
In Spanish America, the reforms were designed to make the administration more efficient and to promote economic development. In terms of the relationship between the Spanish Crown and its American colonies, the reforms functionally aimed to transform juridically semi-autonomous groups into proper colonies. Specifically, the reforms sought to increase commercial agriculture, mining, and trade. The system became much more hierarchal, forcing the colonies to become more dependent on Spain and serve as a market for Spanish manufactured goods. The crown ordered these changes in hopes that it would have a positive effect on the economy of Spain. Furthermore, the Bourbon Reforms were intended to limit the power of Criollos and re-establish peninsular supremacy over the colonies.Ortega Noriega, Sergio. "Las reformas borbónicas y la Independencia, 1767–1821" , Breve historia de Sinaloa. Mexico, 1999.
The reforms achieved mixed results administratively, but alienated the local elites of the Americas (who called themselves Criollos) and eventually led to the independence of all overseas dominions of the Spanish crown."The Bourbon Reforms" This is not to say that a clean and straight line can be drawn from the Bourbon Reforms to the movements for independence, but rather that the period of unrest that came in the wake of the reforms helped encourage the conditions necessary for local riots, and eventually revolts.
End of Habsburg era At the end of the 17th century, Spain was an ailing empire, facing declining revenues and the loss of military power, ruled by a weak king, Charles II, who left no successor. Even before his death in 1700, the European powers were already positioning themselves to see which royal house would succeed in placing someone on the Spanish throne and thereby gain its vast empire. Louis XIV of France asked for and received the Pope's consent for his grandson, Philip, Duke of Anjou, a great-nephew of Charles, to take the throne. On his deathbed, Charles willed the crown to the French-born successor, but an international conflict ensued, known as the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted from 1702 to 1713 and pitted Austria, England, and other European countries against the French House of Bourbon.
Beginning of Bourbon era
Under the terms of the 1713 Peace of Utrecht, which ended the War of the Spanish Succession and secured Philip V's position on the Spanish throne, the new Bourbon dynasty of Spain was forced to make several territorial concessions to foreign powers. This included ceding several of Spain's European territories (including the Habsburg Netherlands) to Austria and Gibraltar and Menorca to Great Britain. Spain also granted the Asiento de Negros, a monopoly contract which allowed the holder to sell African slaves in Spanish America, to the British government, which subsequently gave the contract to the newly formed South Sea Company.Hill: Robert Harley, 162–5; Wolf:Louis XIV, 581; Pitt:The Pacification of Utrecht, 460; Trevelyan: England, III, 182–5
Philip V took measures intended to counter the decline of Spanish power called the Bourbon Reforms. Even before the War of the Spanish Succession, the state of the Spanish Empire was precarious. When Charles II died, the military was practically nonexistent, consisting of only one division; the treasury was bankrupt; and there was no state promotion of commerce or industry. Philip V and his ministers needed to act quickly to reconstruct the empire.
French influence The new Bourbon kings kept close ties with France and used many Frenchmen as advisors. French innovations in politics and social manners never fully replaced Spanish laws and traditions but became an important model in both areas. As a result, there was an influx of French goods, ideas, and books, which helped spread the ideas of the Enlightenment throughout the Spanish world. Imperial rivalry and competition was also a large factor of the Bourbon Reforms, and since France was the more dominant power, the Spanish tried to compete with their intellectual power.Paquette, Gabriel B. Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and Its Empire, 1759-1808. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. In a sense, all things French came into fashion during the subsequent century and gave rise to a new type of person, the afrancesado, who welcomed the new influence. Additionally, during the War of the Spanish Succession Spanish America's ports were blockaded by the British and Dutch navies. Spain turned to France for help with the export of its goods, which was the first time in Spanish colonial history that legal trade occurred with a foreign nation. Prior to this, trade between Spanish America and non-Spanish Europeans had all occurred on illicit trade circuits. The new commercial relationship stimulated the colonial economy, especially that of Chile.Skidmore, Thomas E. and Peter H. Smith. Modern Latin America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
In Mainland Spain
The early reforms were aimed at improving the economic and political structure of Spain. They sought to modernize agriculture, construction of ships, and infrastructure to monitor and incite economic integration and development on a regional and national level. The Spanish were caught in an ever tightening noose of imperial rivalry abroad with Britain, France and Portugal, which were all fighting for domination over Atlantic trade. Spain's problems with its neighbor were the biggest concern, and the Spanish Bourbons made constant short-term adjustments to colonial and increasingly, continental war-making. War was inevitable as the hegemonic powers were pinned against each other in a quest for expansion. This hindered the nationalization of industries and so disrupted the class system. For example, mercury, a Spanish import, was an essential resource for extracting silver in the mining process, but the French naval blockade dramatically limited imports in Spanish America. As a result, silver plunged downward and mining slumped, which caused revenue to decrease. Ultimately, in 1805, the highland mining districts exploded in revolt. Therefore, it was not the Bourbon Reforms that failed, but rather the role of the conflicts at home that resulted in failure.
The failure of reform measures became evident when Spain, under Charles III, was defeated during the Seven Years' War by Great Britain. Charles III's counselors sought more detailed reports of Spain's overseas territories/and now understood the need to take them fully into account. The new wave of reforms included larger exploitation of resources in the colonies, increased taxes, the opening of new ports allowed to trade only with Spain, and the establishment of several state monopolies.
Spanish America
In Spanish America, José del Campillo y Cosío's Nuevo Sistema de gobierno económico para la América (New System of Economic Government for America) (1743)Nuevo sistema de gobierno economico para la América: con los males y daños que le causa el que hoy tiene, de los que participa copiosamente España, y remedios universales para que la primera tenga considerables ventajas, y la segunda mayores interese was a key text that shaped the reforms. He compared the colonial systems of Britain and France to that of Spain, as the first two nations reaped far greater benefits from their colonies than the Spanish. He advocated reforming Spain's economic relations with its overseas territories to a system more like the mercantilism of France's Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683).D.A. Brading, Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763–1810. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1971, p. 27.
The Bourbon Reforms have been termed "a revolution in government" for their sweeping changes to the structure of the administration, which sought to strengthen the power of the Spanish state, decrease the power of local elites in favor of office holders from the Iberian peninsula, and increase revenues for the crown.Brading, Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, pp. 33–94.
Government The bulk of the changes in Spanish America came in the second half of the 18th century following the visita general (general inspection) of New Spain (1765–1771) by José de Gálvez, who was later named Minister of the Indies. Upon his inspection, he found the viceroyalty in a shambles and then reorganized the tax collection system, rewarded loyal Spanish merchants, jailed corrupt tax collectors, and steered the local economy towards mining. The reforms attempted in New Spain were implemented elsewhere in Spanish America subsequently.Brading, Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, p. 34. There had been one earlier reform in the creation of the new Viceroyalty of New Granada (1717), carved out from the Viceroyalty of Peru to improve the administration of the overseas possessions. The new viceroyalty was created initially in 1717, suppressed just six years later, and then permanently established in 1739, still earlier than the reforms of the late 18th century. It was an administrative change that reflected the recognition (as early as the 16th century) that the northern area of South America had certain challenges of distance from Peru. There had been earlier creations of captaincies general in Guatemala and Venezuela, marking an increase in their importance.James Lockhart and Stuart Schwartz, Early Latin America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1983, p. 348. The addition of the viceroyalties in order to compensate for challenges of distance between northern South America and Peru also came about as a result of the need to protect the vital trade routes that existed between these regions. In 1776, a second jurisdiction, the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata was also carved out of the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1776 as part of José de Gálvez's comprehensive administrative reform."Reformas Borbónicas en el Virreinato del Río de la Plata" Historia Argentina-Planeta Senda. In the same year, an autonomous captaincy general was also established in Venezuela. Even after his time in the colonies, José de Gálvez joined the Council of the Indies and eventually rose to the top of that, effectively becoming the most influential figure in the legislation of colonial Americas.