Spain and the Breakdown of the Imperial Ethos

The Problem of Equality

Bibliographic Data

ID2827604
AuthorsTimothy E Anna (corresponding author)
Year1982
Volume62
Issue2
Pages254
Publication date1982-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2514980
OpenAlexW4237389203
LanguageEN
Citations received13

S PAIN'S dominion in the New World was supported more by ideas than by force of arms. Though based initially on the right of conquest-an a priori right that few Spaniards, even in the late colonial period, disputed-other concepts arose during three centuries to legitimize further Spain's rule of so many vast lands. This nexus of ideas was complex and can barely be touched upon here. What interests us is the process of the collapse of the imperial ethos. Though ultimately encrusted with centuries of complex ramifications, the concepts of empire were always simple, for they had to be understood by ordinary subjects. The essential simplicity, and, nonetheless, the strength, of these ideas are impressive, as is the way in which Spain, in a period of extreme stress, debunked and disproved them. The three fundamental concepts of empire in the late colonial era, particularly as they appear in documents that demonstrate Spain's resistance to independence in America, are: (1) the father king; (2) the ties that bind; and (3) the equality of citizens and of territorial units within the empire. The last concept, which emerged very late in the era and as a direct consequence of the crisis of 1808, is the focus of this article. The overarching idea was of the empire as a family united under the father king, the rey padre, as he was frequently called in loyalist propaganda. Originating during the Hapsburg era, the idea was based on the legal view that the American territories were the patrimonial property of the king. The modern Bourbons had resisted this traditional role, but those living in the colonies clung to the Hapsburg image of the patriarchal state and resisted the Bourbons' political philosophy.1 The king was senior, or lord, to whom, according to Spanish political philosophy, the nation at some time in the remote past had transferred au

Ethos · Political science · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Law · Political Theory and Influence

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