Bureaucracy on the Ground in Colonial Mexico
A Window into the Inspection of 1765
Conclusions
Taken together, this selection of documents from the Genaro García Manuscript Collection provides a unique insight into the day-today processes upon which colonial rule relied. In one sense, the visita led by Gálvez had comprised many small actions. However, the end result-- the reformed, more efficiently running New Spain--was worth more than the sum of its parts. Gálvez’s decisions on the ground in New Spain between 1765 and 1771 had a direct impact on the next two decades. From the time his visita ended until his death in 1787, he worked with the king to bring similar changes to other Spanish territories. Every time he issued a new mandate about local governance or commissioned a table about the yearly profits from an industry, he was paving the way for imperial change.
These sources--key for understanding the inspection process--are rich with information about bureaucratic functions, financial exchanges, and professional relationships. They illuminate both local histories and imperial phenomena. As a result, they are valuable resources for future research into the political, economic, and institutional history of the Spanish Empire.
Further Reading
Brading, David A. Church and State in Bourbon Mexico: the Diocese of Michoacán, 1749-1810 (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
Deans-Smith, Susan. Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers: the Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1992).
Kuethe, Allan J., and Kenneth J. Andrien. The Spanish Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century: War and the Bourbon Reforms, 1713-1796 (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
Priestley, Herbert Ingram. José De Galvez, Visitor-General of New Spain, 1765-1771 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1916).
Stein, Stanley J. and Barbara H. Stein. Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003).