Enlightenment, Governance, and Reform in Spain and its Empire, 1759-1808 (review)

This work joins the short list of scholarly efforts that integrate the history of Spain and its colonies. Paquette's examination of Enlightenment writings on political economy provides a vital backdrop for his consideration of governance and reform.

The author demonstrates that policy makers during the reigns of Charles III and Charles IV drew upon an eclectic mix of contemporary and earlier political and economic ideas from foreign and domestic sources as they sought to increase colonial revenue. After a thoughtful overview of the historiography of the Bourbon reforms, the book focuses on Spanish use of "emulation" as a way to benefit from selective adaptation and modification of the policies of its rivals, most notably England and France, while avoiding the risk and cost of pioneering economic policies. The chapter "Felicidad Pública, Regalism, and the Bourbon Ideology of Governance" outlines a fascinating expansion of the idea of regalism from its historic meaning as increased royal authority in regard to the Church to a much broader usage that justified a wide array of royal efforts to increase public happiness in Spain and the Americas.

In Chapter 3, Paquette focuses on the American regions of what he terms the "imperial periphery." While Florida and Louisiana are obviously in the periphery however defined, his reference to the Río de la Plata seems to include Charcas, a region probably better included in the South American core with Peru. The "imperial periphery" regions were prime targets for policies designed to increase population and commerce. Trade policy was especially important with monopolistic trade conducted by Spaniards within the empire and by privileged trading companies the two common systems both Spain and its colonial rivals employed.

The most celebrated commercial policy of the late eighteenth century, of course, was comercio libre introduced in 1765 and expanded in 1778 and later. While comercio libre benefited the imperial periphery, Paquette reminds readers that it was really just dressed-up mercantilism that, among other goals, sought to reduce contraband trade regularly denounced by royal officials. Corruption in various guises, the author argues, was the biggest hindrance to successful and timely introduction of Bourbon reforms intended to provide "defensive modernization." Examining the results of commercial and administrative reform in three peripheral colonies, Paquette finds them successful in Cuba where reformers built on prereform growth in agriculture and population. In contrast, reform produced minimal results in Louisiana and Florida, frontier regions that, unlike Cuba, Spanish officials did not consider indispensable.

A chapter entitled "Colonial Elites and Imperial Governance" approaches the reforms from the perspective of officials in the imperial periphery with particular attention to the consulados created in the 1790s and the economic societies founded about the same time. Paquette asserts that the new consulados were "Creole-controlled," a claim that would have surprised many peninsular merchants. While Francisco Arango, Manuel Belgrano, and Manuel de Salas held positions with the consulados in Havana, Buenos Aires, and Santiago, they were creole lawyers rather than merchants.

Based upon both primary and secondary materials, Paquette's study is a welcome contribution to historical literature of the Enlightenment during the reigns of Charles III and Charles IV. It is strongest and most innovative in its examination of emulation and regalism within an international context. The author confirms that the post-1762 expansion of Cuba's population and economy expanded existing trends; he could have emphasized more strongly the broader point that the reforms if not the ideas of the Caroline years rested on important earlier initiatives and publications. While the index is minimal, the bibliography is very impressive. All students of the Bourbon reforms will want to read this book.