Simmons, Marc

English

University of New Mexico

New Mexico Quarterly
Volume 38 | Issue 1 Article 5
1968
Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices
Marc Simmons
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Recommended Citation
Simmons, Marc. "Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices." New Mexico Quarterly 38, 1 (1968).
https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmq/vol38/iss1/5
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Marc Simmons.
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Spanish Government an,d Colonial·Land P!actice~
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Spa'nish' Government in New Mexico, soon to be published by the Uni~
'versity o/New Mexico Press;. describes political government in NewMexico
during the lastfifty·years of its ~xistence as a province of Spain. Tb~ excerpt:
. explores 'one phase ofthis govermnent in the eighteenth century.
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,~~~M~ITAR:Y authori~ in New Mexic~ was vested in a governor'
who direCted affairs of the province'with the :lid of his agents, the al-
. cal~€&mayores. It is diffiJult for th,e modi'rn student to appreciate prop-
erly the complexity an'aenormity 'of the problems which beset Spain's
officers in this farthest corlier of the empire. The tribes which investe4
the frontiers on all sides engaged in alternate"trade an.d war with the
. Sp~niards and Puebl? Indians, exacting duri~g times'orhostility a cq,t¥
siderable toll in human livesJlild suffering. The economy of the region
d~veloped slowly, because of the defe~se effort. ''fPe general feeling of
crisis promoteq by. the uncertainty of life and limb was itl~en~fiedby
the poverty of the people. With hardship a salient characteristic of life ~
in New M~xico,. the office of governor needed a man of consid~rab.1e
fortitude and intelligence. . ' .
Jt may fairlybe reckoned that the go;'ernor~ coming from Spai,n and
Mexico, especially ~n the eighteenth century whe'n raiders from, :the
plains had aCCcleraljed t,heir'aC,tivities, looked with considerablemisgiv-
i~g upon their assighment to New Mexic9. Some, such as Pedro. Fermin
d~ Mendinueta, and. Juan Bautista 4e Anza, were men of excep"tional ·
vigor who me~ considerabfe success in defeating or bargaining Wi)h the ,.
I~dians. Othep displaye~ less forceful traits :of char~cler; a~~~ some
were blatantlY.'weak and dish~)Dest. As Scholes hels SUCCInctly remarked,
"A governor's"powers were wide enough to permit an honest and ener-
getic man t~1l1aintain discipline and secure justice, or to makeJt possi-
.ble for a seu··seeking official to become a local tyrapt." , .
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Simmons: Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices
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!3$ Ml\RC SIMMON
In theory, the governorh~cied a battery ohesser officials who assi~ted
in the conduct of provincial business. These included a lieute~ant gOY
ernor, the members of the town council, or cabitdo, of Santa Fe, a secre-
tary of government who served as notary as well as personal advisor to
the the' governor, and a clerk. Administering' the separate districts or
rural subdivisions into 'Yhich the region was divided .were the alcaldes
j ) mayores, together with their subordinate lieutenants and 'an assortment
'0£ petty magistrates among the PueblQ Indians. in actual practice, the
eighteenth century witnessed a decline in the numbet= of fmlctionaries,
mainly, it seems,becaus~ of1he dearth of,qualified candida~tto fill the
varigus offices': '
Toward the end of the century, for example, the governor was with-
oUlt the services of a .secretary and a notary, and seve-ral districts laek@t}
for a ti~e an.alcalde mayor. Moreover, the lieutenant governor was far
to the south, administering the district of 'El Paso, and the municipal
council of Santa Fe, which ~aditionally had aided the governor in the
.. diJ!ection of provincial affairs, had ceased to eJcist $ometime befqre
mid--century. As a c'onseijueJilce, the governor came to rely upon·the ad-
vice and assis.tanc~ of the officers of the capital's presidential garrison.
.~e g?v~~or:s ~uties enco~passed directly or inqirec:tly a~l affa~rs
Wlthm hIS Junsdiction. As a mIlItary rttier, he was resppnsIbleior mam-
I" teIiance of the peace, t~em9st demanding of all tasks. Tied to this obli-
gation was the supply, training, and command of the regulhr presidential
. troops and the citizens' militia. Moreover, his constant.dealings with
the native inhabitants, po~ peaceful and hostile, made hi~, in effe~t,
the .Indian agent for the district-:-the personal liaison between the
Spanish gGvern~ntand these subjects. .
9utside thelcity of Santa Fe, few local administrative dl.!ties were
';. in tlhe hands 06 the goyernor since these he delegated to his agents, the
alcaldes mayores. They, in addition, dispensed justiee at the local level,
the: g9vernor retaining s!Jpervision over their activities and sitting as a '
• court of appeal fro~ their decisions. Generally, his sphere of action in-
cluaed both ciVIl ~nd criminal cases and litigation involVing the military
£uero~ .' I •
In absence of a treasury office in New Mexico, the governor~s con-
cerned with the collection of taxes and the 'promotion of such meager
croWn revenues :;is existed. Similarly, he encouraged the economy of the
country·whenever possible, although this and the administration of
finances remained minQr Rhases of his total activity. . . .-
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 38 [1968], Iss. 1, Art. 5
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SPANISH GOYERNMENT .,
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39
_ The governor1as vjce-patron of the Church1was responsibl~ for main-
ttenance arid welfare of the entire missionary program~ The work of con-
. version1 however1 was weakeijed after the Pueblo· revolt of the late
, seventeenth centuly1 and it never re'covered its ~arly vigor. . '
~eyond these specific obligatio~s1 the governor was impelled to foster
: the gener.al welfare of his province. This implied a wide range of author-
. ; ity1 and1in fact1empowered him to perform whatever acts were neses-
. sary to ·ensure the proper functioning of the govermnental machinery1
subject' always1 of course1 to the aRproval of his immediate superiors.
~e governor could issue appropriate ordinances and. decrees; he ar-
ranged for division of the province into lesser administrative districts;
he appointed civil officials at the local level and nominated persons for'
,~ .' .IEilitary positions; he supervised the foun~ngof new settlements, the
concentration of the population.for defeD$ive purposes, and taking ()f a
per-iodic cenSUi; he controlled t~e assignment of land andwat~r rights
out~ide the Villa of Santa Fe; c:lr:ld he regulated'public travel within the'
pmvince. ' . -': i . ",
The governor was eIIlpowerea to mai~tainpublic buildings, including
his residen~e (the casa real) , the cuartel,or.instal}ations and barra.cks of'
the presidial troops, frontier outposts, ~upply depots, roads and com-
munications. To insure his familiarity with the province.hewas expe.cted
to conduct a general inspection (visita) of his jurisdiction, seekil!g out
and remedying injustices and providing necessary changes in:the local
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administration. To all of this was added an inordinate amount of-paper
work, the governor,being re'iuired to composea host of reports through-'
. . out th~ !ear t~ be submitt~d in 4uplicate- or triPIicatl tol the ce~tral
authOrIties.
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THE~Gui.ATIONOF SETTLEMENTS. From the first dayspf the founding
of the province of New Mexico, jt was recognized thatl strength lay in '.
the clinging together of colonists for mutual protecti n. 'The natural'
tendency qf the titizens, however, was to disperse o~er he country~de
in pursuit of t1te few economic activities which were open to them.
. fVicemy Luis de Velasco observed as early as 1 ~cx), '" have been in-
formed that the small population of that country [New exico] is very
scattered over it 'so that t:Qey are destitute of adminis .ation because'
very few reside in each pla& and they. also are too far apart to be helped
and protected." This situation remained, an abiding probletp to the
end ()f the colonial period, although sP7cial efforts were made in the
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Simmons: Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices
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MARCSIMM~S
seconcl half ofthe eighteenth century to cO,ncentrate th~ people in
easily defended settlemen~. . '., ,
,The governors were empowered to select sites for new settlementst to
m;ak~ arrangements for and: certify then- ~stablishments, and to provide
the support needed in their earliest stage of development. Related to
~this-authority, the.governors were obliged to see that no settlers a~o/
. doned their communities, or, for the matter, left the province withbut
hi~ expressed permission. Spanish law was explicit in this latter regard.
A ;per~on who left ,his place of residence without the proper license
might forfeit any officeS he held in addition to his h.ouse, lands, and
other possessions. The.'prohibition against{ traveling without a· permit
. was rdterated sp'eCifieally for New Mexico in,a royal order of 1784 and
was ]?roclaimed throughdbt the area by the alcaldes n;tayores acting,
., under orders of Governor Anza. . ,
/ Increasing Indian preSsure upon the Spanish settlements in the
eigpteenth century accentuated the need for'assembling the people of
New Mexico to better resi~t the enemy. Governor Mendinueta, in 1772,
bewailed the fact that a~ong "the Spaniards there is no united settle-
m~t, so that to the dispersion of their houses, the name of ranches or
ho~ses of the field is properly given and not that 'of villas or villages."
A,ntonia de Bonilla, four years lafer, echoed the'governors complaint
and warned of impending ruin, for "the force of settlers is di~ided, and
, ~elY~n,Iieither pr,otect tliemselves nor co~tribute to .the general de-
fense of th~ country." By contrast he extolled the merits of the Indian
pueblos which "are defensible because of their excelle~~and qnified for"
mation." In 'addition, he supported an earlier proposal by Governor
Mendinueta which would havt:;.forced the New Mexicans tq congregate
jn well-organized settlements. '. , . " _.
Fxay Juan AgUstin de Morfi, writing som¢~e in the 1780'S, enum-
era~ed th~ injuries to government and society resulting from' the
people's'tareless habits of ~ettlement. Some of these appear as follows:
citizens, because of the isolation' of their homes, felt free to act with in-
dependence and insolence in a manner which they would D,ot have dared
in the presence.of the au~orities;for the same reason, great c,rimes were
committed since the wrongdoers heldlittle fear of being puni~hed; set-
~tlers were deprived of the benefits of the sacraments since the few priests'
coulij notI-each those in the outlying areas; the men lived so far apart
"that' when the governfnent sounded the call to amis, the e.nemy had
,ample time to escape befor~ the,militia could assemble to give cha~e;'
and since many ~ved'without neighbors to observe them, they were not.
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 38 [1968], Iss. 1, Art. 5
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.SPANISH GOVERNMENT
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ashamed to go about nude sG-that lewdness was seen here more than in'
the brutes, and the peaceful Indians were scandalized.
. Modi decried the fact that not a single Spanish town was well or-
ganiZed for defense. In particular h~ sing\ed out the Villa of Albuquer-. f.
que, complaining that its. inhabitants were distributed for a dozen .
leagues along the banks of the river.'If the people were brought to-
gether, a large town would be the result, common defense would be pro- "
moted, and abundant lands fOffrultivation add pastUrage FOU~d be had '
by all. " '., . '.
, " The arrangement of the VilJa lOt. Santa Fe appears to have been in -
, similar disarray during the entire colonial period; As earlyas16:z.o, there'
, was official concern expressed over the poor de,fensive qualities of the
cuqent site, and a proposal was advanced to move'the capit~l to the,
mri!"e, favorable lo~tion. The sacki~g of the outlying districts of the
Villa in the several oays preceding its total aQandonment by the:, Span-
ish during the Pueblo revolt emphasized the'weaknesses inher~n~,in'1f1e
haphaz~rd growth hitherto permitted in the San~mu.nicipality.
NotWithstanding, the capital was subsequently reconst?ueted on its'
former site, and disorderly sprawling over the surromiding countrysid~
. was resumed by the colonists. .
- The sad spectacle of the Santa Fe defeqsive position again became a
subject of conc~m in the second half of the eighte.enth century. Criti-
,cism ot the capital's' condition w~s implied in the remarks by Mendi- ,
,nueta.and Bonilla. It was during the administration of governor Anza, \
howeyer, that overt: action -on the questiol} appeared imminent. In-
volved was.,IlOt only an active propos.al to reorganize Santa Fe, but the
remaining towns of the 'province, as well. Indian incursions had, de-
'{a~·tatedthe large areas, so that Miera y Pacheco's map of New Mexico l
~~es~e year 1780 showed more arumdoned settlemenjthan OCClIpied\)
Anza re.ceived instructiont from the commandant general to devote -"
himselfto the tas~ofimplementingthe ideas originated by his.predeces-
Dsor, Governor Mendinueta, with regard to reform of the settlement
pattern~ adopted by the New Mexicans. Although he set about en-
thusiastically to fulfill his Charge, Anza was· able. to achieve results
which Were only partially successful. Albuquerque and Santa .Cruz de la
Canada were apparently reduced, to some order, but the citizens of
S~nta. Fe'~emained ad~man; in refusing to ,me~t the demands ~f the
governor who was seeking the transfer of the V111a to the south Side of
_the nT- Twenty.f~ ~f these fled th!province withont his pennissiol1
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'MARC SIMMON
and presented themselves before the comma,ndant g~neral in Arizpe t
state their grievances.' This ~old action won an order restraining th
gdvernor from moving the capital until all complaints....could be judi
cious]y heard,. and in the final outcome, Sel!1ita Fe remained on itS
o!iginalslte. .
.lIn 1788 the commandant general approved a project by Go,:,ernor
Cqncha to ~eform the Villa of San~ Fe, b~t this concerned mote the
copstruction.of a cuartel or presidial barracks than an attempt to con'"
centrate the populace. A proposa~ current at: this. time, however, did
advocate the shifting'bf the capital to a site neaf; Santo Domingo Pueblo,
but the hostile attitude of the citizens of the Villa, not to mention that
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of the Indians, caused the idea to be hastily abatildQned. At this ti~e two
thousand pesos.was assigned for'work on the barracks to provideObadly
neede~ impIQvements. . -. -
''The Spanish king was proprietor of all territories conquered in .his
name and was at liberty to dispose of them as he chose. They were dis-
tributed in several ways. Lands were conceded to the support of new
towns and ~eir citizens, ,for India,n pueblos, and to vassals who had
sened in the conquest of a new territory. Certain pr?~rtywas re,tained
- by the -crown UI¥ler the title of "vacant or royal l~n~s." It was' these
lastwhic,h were made as grants to individ~als';but with the understand.:
ing!tha~ finar~tle was 'retiii~ed by the kiJ\ig. Grall~s \\rere made for oc-·
,cupatioiJ, and use, the subject.taking the rents and profits, and normally
a ~e iimit was specified: The'ambunt of land given varied according
to the needs of the individual. ..
'Uhe governor of Ne~ Mexico was emp0'Yered t~ make ~oth Span-'
ish ~nd Indian lana grants in the name of the king. Spaniards ~ho de-
sire<1l1ands presented' a .formal' petition tQ the governor who then -in-
stituted an an invest,igatiori, fo determIne 'if the land requested would
produce a conflict ~~h o~er.c1ai~s. Th~:.al~ldes ~~~ores ~ere actua!ly .
m charge of exam~nrng apphcations whlch'fell Wlthm then respectIve
jurisdictions and they pla~d grantees in possession after the governor
had drawn up the appropriate tille. . "
Acommon occurrence in the New Mexico province was the frequent
aba~donment of settlement.s and lands ~rider pressure from hostile In- I
dians. $!1ch removal was often hastily taRen by terrified colonists with-
out lh~official sanction r~qu'ited frqm the governor, who was hard,
pres~edsOJ:netimesto force the peop~e to return to their homes. Gover-
""nOr Velez'Cachupln, fo~ example, eclared in- February of 1766, that
''the lands in the region orOjo Calie t~ which had recently been aban-,
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New Mexico Quarterly, Vol. 38 [1968], Iss. 1, Art. 5
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SPANISH GOVERNMENT 43
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doned be~~se of .the Indian ~enace had reverted to the CroWD, and
I were available to other subjects of the king who might applY for them.
Pedro Bautista P~no mention~ his part in a case involving land distri..;
bution.
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During the admiIiistiation of Seilor ;6n, I was commissioned to'
found twoset'tlements and to'distribute 'ds to more'than 200 families
at Pecos ford. After I concluded this opera ion, and upon taking leave.of
them ..• my heart was filled with joy. Pqrents and little children sur-
rounded me and thanked me with fears' in their eyes for the land I had
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given them for their subsistence.
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Related to the governor!s land grant powers was his oblIgation to pro-
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*t Indian properties from trespass and encroachment by Europeans.
Carefully wrolfght legislati~n'was designed to safeguard all nativela~d
which ~s actually used Or occupied. 'Unfortunately, as one authority
has noted, the laws were honored more in the br~ch than in the ob-
servance. With increased European population, the eightee~th cen-
tury was a time of stress for the Indian communities, as the governors
and alcaldes may~>res at best ignored the laws while whites impinged
upon J?ueblo lands, and at worst conJ;l~ved openly to exploit the natives..
t> I~ ,17,05. ~.~ver~or Fra~cis~ot Cuervo y V~l?es .had ~roc1aim.ed ;n '
order prohIbltmg all Spamsh CItIZens from :resIdmg In IndIan pueblos or
. even entering them with'out ,eJqJressperinission of the governor. This
, .was.merely a restatement of the law that had long prevailed in New
, Spain and though it was reiterated on !subsequ~J.1t occasions in New
Mexico, it did little to stem the tide of white encroachment. The ag-
grieved pueblos might 'formally petition tpe governor or they might
send repte$entative delegations, to appear before h4n with their com-
plaints, 'but in the end it was. the personal feeling of the governor rather
than Spanis4law which ~ecid~~ the issue i~ a~y given Case.
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Simmons: Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices
Published by UNM Digital Repository, 1968


Spanish Government and Colonial Land Practices

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