The Role Of The Bourbon Reform In New Spain

Adan Escobedo
HIST 4180/Colonial Mexico
Dr. Mendiola Garcia
December 10, 2014
The Bourbon Reform in New Spain The tides turned drastically as the Bourbon Reforms swept into Colonial Mexico with the collapse of the Hapsburgs. Spain by 1701 had established a new royal house: the Bourbons. However, the reformation of Colonial Mexico through the Bourbon house did not truly take its commencement till about 1759, when Charles III took the throne in Spain. It was in Charles the III’s reign that Colonial Mexico began to see substantial physical and emotional changes as well as political and economical. The true design and attempt behind the reformation was not only to profit and squeeze revenue from the colonies, but to also instill enlightenment
This was a major change for Mexico, during the Hapsburg rule there was equal power among the crown and church, meaning, politics ran through both the crown and church to in order to institute power and rule over colonial inhabitants of Mexico. Changes made their way nonetheless, and separation of crown and church was a priority in the Bourbon reforms. The most prominent event perhaps in the process of separating away from the Catholic Church was the “expulsion of the Jesuit order form the Spanish Empire in 1767.” Consequently, the detachment from the Catholic Church also led to the restriction and prohibiting of religious celebrations among the people of Mexico, who before, had days in which they venerated saints of the church. As mention by Yanna Yannakakis, “they [Spanish crown] prohibited the elaborate fiestas that formed part of the cult of saints.” With this change in progress, the very culture of Mexicans was also curtailed. Another culture change that was implemented was the standardization of a “Spanish language- only” policy. For the native people of Mexico, this was a challenged aimed at them, and pertained to the concept of trying to modernize Mexico as a
Prior to 1810 and Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla’s famous “Grito de Dolores”, Mexico had undergone through many changes, changes in both the political and economic atmosphere. This came in part of the Bourbon Reforms that swept the Mexican country which was put in motion when the Hapsburgs were replaced by the Bourbon family in Spain. Mexico was caught in between the Bourbon reformations and the fights for independence around them from other countries, such as the American Revolution in 1776, the French Revolution in 1789, and the Haitian Revolution in 1804. In other words, Mexico stood as a by-standard as many revolutions took place, and it was a time of anxiety for the Mexican people, as tension grew within with the Spanish crown, colonial inhabitants knew they had to choose the fate of their country