Coker, William S.

English

University of New Mexico

Colonial Latin American Historical Review
Volume 6
Issue 2 Volume 6, Issue 2, Spring 1997 Article 5
4-1-1997
Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins, The New
Orleans Cabildo: Colonial Louisiana's First City
Government, 1769-1803
William S. Coker
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Recommended Citation
Coker, William S.. "Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins, The New Orleans Cabildo: Colonial Louisiana's First City Government,
1769-1803." Colonial Latin American Historical Review 6, 2 (1997): 204. https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/clahr/vol6/iss2/5
204 COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW SPRING 1997 
The New Orleans Cabildo: ColonialLouisiana's First City Government, 1769-
1803. By Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State 
University Press, 1996. xiii + 330 pp. Illustrations, map, charts, tables, notes, 
bibliography, index. $45.00 cloth.) 
This is one of the most complete and thorough cabildo studies with 
which this reviewer is familiar. The New Orleans Cabildo only existed from 
1769 to 1803, and writing the history of an institution that lasted a mere thirty­
four years enables one to discuss it in far more detail than writing about one 
that lasted for several hundred. Moreover, the ten-volume A etas del Cabildo 
(records of the cabildo) and related Spanish colonial government records of 
New Orleans and Louisiana were available to the authors. Thirteen doctoral 
dissertations and three master's theses, as well as an extensive number of 
books and articles, also provided much information on the subject. 
-1 
BOOK REVIEWS 205 
This study begins with an excellent overview of Spanish New 
Orlea:is, 1766-1803, followed by a good discussion of the background of the 
New Orleans Cabildo. A detailed review ensues of cabildo officials and 
empl yees and of the relationship of the cabildo with the provincial govern­
ment, the intendant, the Church, and the Spanish legal system. Since the 
cabildo 's primary financial responsibility was to pay for the administration of 
the city government of New Orleans, municipal finances are thoroughly 
discussed, from taxation and slavery to tavern and dance hall regulations. The 
authors' discussion of medicine and health regulation provides good insight 
into J\ew Orleans' Spanish hospitals. Other topics include public works, land 
grants. and building regulations, as well as ceremonial functions. The 
bibliography provides extensive primary and secondary sources. 
As in the case of most cabildos, there were the usual problems 
between the governor and other cabildo officials. Given the fact, however, that 
the governor of Spanish Louisiana also assumed jurisdiction over Spanish West 
Florid1 for some years after 1779-1781, it is obvious that he was responsible 
for a much larger area than just Spanish New Orleans and Louisiana. There 
is some question as to just how much authority the cabildo exercised outside 
New Orleans, but it clearly enjoyed some jurisdiction there. Another major 
proble:n the cabildo encountered concerned the long delay in receiving 
approul from Spain for some of its projects; several cabildo proposals in fact 
never �eceived royal sanction. 
This extremely readable and well-documented study of the New 
Orleans Cabildo is a significant contribution not only to the history of the 
Southeastern Spanish Borderlands but to colonial Latin American history as 
well. 
William S. Coker 
Professor Emeritus 
University of West Florida 


Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins, The New Orleans Cabildo:  Colonial Louisiana\u27s First City Government, 1769-1803

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Gilbert C. Din and John E. Harkins, The New Orleans Cabildo: Colonial Louisiana\u27s First City Government, 1769-1803

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