Colonial Administration
The first royal judicial body established in New Spain in 1527 was the audiencia of
Mexico City. The audiencia consisted of four judges, who also held executive and
legislative powers. The crown, however, was aware of the need to create a post that would
carry the weight of royal authority beyond local allegiances. In 1535 control of the
bureaucracy was handed over to Antonio de Mendoza, who was named the first viceroy of
New Spain (1535-50). His duties were extensive but excluded judicial matters entrusted to
the audiencia .
Viceregal power was characterized by a certain amount of independence from royal
control, mainly because of distance and difficult communications with the mother country.
Viceroys were notorious for applying orders with discretion, using the maxim "I obey but
do not comply." In addition, viceroys and audiencias were in conflict most of the time,
with the latter not responsible to the viceroy but reporting directly to the crown.
By the end of the seventeenth century, the Viceroyalty of New Spain reached from New
Mexico to Panama and included the Caribbean islands and the Philippines. In the most
distant areas, local audiencias enjoyed greater autonomy, and viceregal authority was
merely nominal. After the sixteenth-century expansion of power, the seventeenth century
was marked by a decline in central authority, even though the administrative structure
transplanted to the New World remained intact.
Socioeconomic Structures
The philosophy of mercantilism was the force behind all overseas ventures by European
colonial powers. This set of ideas emphasized that the most important function of colonial
possessions was to enrich the mother country. This accumulation of wealth was largely
accomplished by the levy of the quinto (royal fifth) on all colonial production. Trade duties
protected manufacturers and merchants in Spain from competition in the colonies and
placed strict restrictions on the colonial economies. Mexico was required to supply raw
materials to Spain, which would then produce finished goods to be sold at a profit to the
colonies.
From the mid-sixteenth century on, some land grants were provided to Europeans willing
to farm the land and raise livestock in underpopulated areas. The European acquisition of
land often encroached upon native villages. Displacement and fear of forced labor in the
early seventeenth century led entire villages to flee to larger towns, mining camps, or
haciendas, where the displaced persons hired themselves out as artisans, servants, peons, or
laborers. Although originally kept apart in separate "republics," close contact of all sorts
with the Spaniards was responsible for the indigenous peoples' acculturation. The mestizos,
who would later play the dominant role in Mexican society and history, could trace their
origins to this period of intense assimilation of the two cultures (see Ethnicity and
Language, ch. 2).
Agricultural production was directed to internal markets, while exports consisted mainly of
precious metals and animal hides. During the initial phase of the colonial period, gold had
been collected from the Aztec treasures and from some mining operations. However, silver
soon became the dominant colonial product, followed by the red dye cochineal, and by the
late sixteenth century, silver accounted for 80 percent of all exports from New Spain.
Exploration and the search for mines led the Spaniards to the north, far beyond the Aztec
empire. The rich mines of Zacatecas, Real del Monte, Pachuca, and Guanajuato in northcentral Mexico were discovered between 1546 and 1552. Silver production continued into
the seventeenth century, and it employed most available labor.
During the sixteenth century, a dual economy developed in New Spain: the hacienda
economy in the Valley of Mexico and the south and the frontier economy of the silver
mines to the north. By the mid-seventeenth century, however, silver production collapsed
when mercury, necessary to the refining process, was diverted to the silver mines of Potos
(in present-day Bolivia). The seventeenth-century mining crisis led to widespread
bankruptcy among miners and hacendados (hacienda owners) and also had a negative
effect on transatlantic trade. However, the financial crisis did promote the production of
crude manufactures and food for domestic consumption by the growing population of New
Spain.
Colonial society was stratified by race and wealth although these were not hard and fast
distinctions. The three main groups were whites (European- and American-born), castas
(mestizos), and native peoples; each had specific rights or privileges (fueros ) and
obligations in colonial society. The major fuero was the right of an individual to be tried by
his or her peers. The church, the military, the bureaucracy, and the merchants enjoyed their
set of fueros . Membership in the upper classes was open to whites only, particularly
peninsulares , whites who were born in Spain and moved to the colonies. Criollos
(American-born whites, also known as creoles) tended to marry peninsulares for reasons of
upward social mobility. Nevertheless, many examples exist of race changes after birth.
The lower classes were a mixture of poor whites, castas , and native peoples who worked
in the same occupations as whites or castas but who had different rights and obligations.
Indigenous groups were protected from the Inquisition (the Roman Catholic court designed
to combat heresy), paid head taxes, and could not own property as individuals but were the
primary beneficiaries of social services in health and education. Mestizos were under the
same obligations as whites but were not considered for most of the jobs in the Spanish
administration. These jobs were held only by peninsulares . Poor whites and mestizos
often competed with native people for the same jobs. The only unifying force in a society
that was divided by race and privilege was the Roman Catholic Church. The clergy
provided education and social services to the rich and the destitute alike, and clergy also
functioned as a buffer in social conflicts.