El Cabildo de Caracas (1750-1821) (review)

Lila Mago de Chópite continues her research on the city of Caracas and the governance of colonial Venezuela in this useful volume of cabildo letters from the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. With the assistance of José J. Hernández Palomo, she transcribes all the letters found in the Archivo General de Indias, Section Audiencia de Caracas, and includes selected letters found in the AGI books of the Audiencias of Santo Domingo and Nueva Granada. These 118 letters range from 1741 to 1821 and concentrate on the period of Bourbon reforms, which reduced the autonomy of the Caracas cabildo and created new royal judicial, military, economic, and governmental institutions. The authors also transcribe 6 of 57 letters found in the Archivo Histórico del Consejo Municipal de Caracas (1779- 88) to compliment the letters archived in Spain. A helpful list of all 57 letters from the municipal archive is included, although no summary or list of the 118 AGI letters is included. The authors arrange the letters in chronological order and provide a useful name index of individuals mentioned in the letters.

In a brief but comprehensive introduction, the authors explain how the Caracas cabildo enjoyed an unusual power of rule in the absence of a royally appointed governor. As set out in a cédula from 1560 , the cabildo could directly exercise full governing authority throughout the Province of Venezuela until such time as the king replaced a deceased or absent governor. The Audiencia was not empowered to appoint a new governor, as it could for other provinces. Thus, the power of the alcaldes in Caracas exceeded that of alcaldes in many other regions, and they exercised it repeatedly throughout the seventeenth century, characterized by rotating governors. The Spanish kings issued confirming cédulas in 1676 and 1723 ; however, in 1736 the crown negated the cabildo's right to rule. Citing the many harms caused by the alcaldes, the crown named the lieutenant governor as the next in line to govern. The cabildo wrote numerous objections but did not prevail; this marked the beginning a period of decline in local autonomy. This change in the order of governance was the first centralizing measure taken by the Bourbons. In the ensuing decades, the crown created the Intendencia de Ejército in 1776 , the Capitanía General de Venezuela in 1777 , the Audiencia of Caracas in 1786 , and the Consulado in 1793. Finally, in 1805 , the city of Caracas became the see of the archbishopric, consolidating ecclesiastic authority.

The tension between the Caracas cabildo and the royal institutions of the eighteenth century is well known from other histories. However, the publication of the most important correspondence between the cabildo and the king is invaluable in tracing the argument that would eventually lead to the declaration of independence from Spain. Taken over a period of 80 years, the letters show the continuous reaction of the cabildo to its loss of power, prestige, and judicial and economic authority. Seemingly minor complaints about changes to ceremonial processions, rights to wear high-status clothing, and carry symbolic weapons can be evaluated in the light of a local aristocracy threatened by a changing economic environment, an emerging mixed-race population, and a central government usurping traditional local authority.

Perhaps the most intriguing theme running throughout the later letters is the animosity between peninsulares and criollos, both represented on the cabildo. In 1770 , the crown ruled that Spanish-born individuals be granted equal seats to the criollo alcaldes, breaking with a long-standing tradition wherein criollos dominated. The correspondence leading up to the decree reveals the criollos' fear and the peninsulares' sense of superiority, alluding to their own education and racial purity. At the same time, it reflects both sides' antipathy to pardos, negros,and other nonwhites. Forty years later, the tensions among the different social groups would become...