AM 214: Imperial Rule and Governance

Order and Hierarchy Tension about proper type of society that should be established in the New World A) recreation of European societies in the New World B) these societies to be put under the control of European empires C) societies that actually developed in the New World diverged from European practice

Authority and the Periphery Authority flowed not from the centre out towards the periphery but was constructed out of an ongoing series of negotiations, of reciprocal bargaining, between the centre and colonies Result: conformity to traditional values of order, hierarchy but a willingness to break out of old values and subvert them

John Winthrop

John Winthrop: “in all times, some must be rich, some high and eminent in power and dignity; others mean and in subjection” A Modell of Christian Charity (1629)

Hernando Pizarro

Hernando Pizarro: “they were saying amongst themselves that soldiers without horses counted for little when it came to the distribution of land; but he gave them his word that no such thought had ever crossed his mind, because good soldiers are not to be begrudged by their horses, but by the valour of their persons. Therefore, whoever showed himself brave would be rewarded in conformity with his service; for not to possess horses was a matter of fortune, and no disparagement of their persons.”

Basis of Rule Importance of gentility Sir Thomas Smith: a gentleman is someone “who professeth liberal sciences and to be short who can live idly and without manual labour”

Composite monarchies A series of different realms and territories with their own distinct traditions and forms of government that are subject to one and the same monarch Mark Greengrass: “Europe’s political structure (ca. 1600) was still dominated by a multiplicity of regional political entities, just under 500 in all,” from city states to the Holy Roman Empire

Spain as a composite monarchy J.H. Elliott: Spain “consisted of a variety of kingdoms … almost all of which owed allegiance to the same ruler as a result of either dynastic accident or dynastic design.”

Differences between empires Spain – neither a consolidated or a very well integrated state Portugal – long a unified kingdom with centralising monarchs, John II and Manuel I England – diverse set of ethnicities and a model of understatization France – built upon the principle of incorporation. Large standing officialdom with a large standing army

Factors affecting colonial political development 1) limited resources of European states 2) distance. Adam Smith “the European colonies in America were considerably more remote from the seat of government than the most distant provinces of the greatest empires which had ever been known before” 3) Economic orientation of the colonising process 4) the desire everywhere in the colonies to recreate Europe in the Americas

Private agents of colonisation Virginia Company; Royal African Company; East India Company Adelantados; donatorios, proprietors, patrons, seigneurs

Maintaining Rule – Spanish America Spain was the European nation with the most effective control over their colonies Discovery of silver and gold Spanish empire in America a medieval construct – Edmundo O’Gorman: “Spanish colonisation is animated by a medieval spirit; whatever it contains that is modern is a blemish in it” Reconquista, encomendias, repartimentos, cabildo, policias, haciendas

Maintaining Rule – British empire More control in the peripheries Colonists’ insistence on enjoyment of all English laws as English subjects Importance of negotiation and government by consent Aim of government: emulation of French and especially Spanish modes of colonial government