Abstract

DUBET, Anne. The Debate on the American Intendencias: Modern versus Antiquated or Polemic between Reformers? The Case of the Count of Tepa. Estud. hist. novohisp [online]. 2022, n.66, pp.81-120.  Epub June 06, 2022. ISSN 2448-6922.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iih.24486922e.2022.66.77435.

Recent research argues that the “Bourbon reformism(s)” in the Iberian Peninsula and in Hispanic America faced a monolithic opposition that defended tradition in a self-serving way. This is the usual appraisal of the “Dictamen reservado” in which the Count of Tepa rejected, in 1773, the intendancy project forged by José Gálvez for New Spain in 1768. I criticize this interpretation by analyzing various of Tepa’s memorials and comparing his proposals with those of the reformers and the enlightened writers of his time. My hypothesis is that Tepa represented an alternative reform approach, partly inspired by the political-institutional project of the Marquis of La Ensenada and by proposals related to those of Pedro Rodríguez de Campomanes. The actual debate was between reformers rather than between the reformist proposal and the “old system”.

Keywords : Intendants; Royal Treasury; Audiencias; Marqués de La Ensenada; Tepa; Campomanes; New Spain; Eighteenth Century.