The Culmination of the Bourbon Reforms, 1787-1792

Abstract

N APOLEON'S invasion of the Iberian peninsula and the forced abdications of Charles IV and Ferdinand VII in 1808 threatened the unity of the Spanish empire. A danger so obvious prompted the provisional government to chart a new course in colonial affairs. Among the measures it considered was the reestablishment of the Ministry of the Indies, which had been dismantled after the death of the controversial Jose de G'alvez in 1787.1 Naturally, this projected revival reopened the quarrel between supporters and opponents of the great minister. But both sides could agree that the administrative changes occasioned by Galvez' demise were followed by a catastrophic decline in Spain's colonial fortunes. It seemed to many that a return to the old institutions was needed.2 The views then voiced by Jose Pablo Valiente and Francisco de Requena, two experienced members of the Council of the Indies, were faithful expressions of contemporary opinion. Valiente maintained that the colonies' powerful elites and disobedient officials had been tamed by the Ministry. Because of their devotion to the slogan king, one law, however, royal advisors were not prepared to allow the Indies to remain under a special regime, and so destroyed the colonial office. In succeeding years, Valiente complained, Madrid neglected American problems, colonial bureaucrats regained their independence, and the fruits of the Bourbon reforms were utterly lost.3 Requena, far from believing that the Galvez years had been a