page_title: Bourbon Reforms
section_title: In Spanish America
hierarchical_section_title: Bourbon Reforms / In Spanish America
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of José de Gálvez, 1st Marquess of Sonora
context_page_description: The Bourbon Reforms consisted of political and economical legislation promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon, since 1700, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new Crown's power with clear lines of authority to officials contrasted to the complex system of government that evolved under the Habsburg monarchs. For example, the crown pursued state supremacy over the Catholic Church, pushed economic reforms, and placed power into the hands of Spanish governors.
  The reforms resulted in significant restructuring of administrative structure and personnel. The reforms were intended to stimulate manufacturing and technology to modernise Spain. In Spanish America, the reforms were designed to make the administration more efficient and to promote its economic, commercial and fiscal development. When looking at the material effects of how the Bourbon Reforms aimed to change the relationship between the Spanish American colonies and the Crown, it can be said that the reforms functionally aimed to transform juridically semi-autonomous groups into proper colonies.
context_section_description: In Spanish America, José del Campillo y Cosío's Nuevo Sistema de gobierno económico para la América (New System of Economic Government for America) (1743) was a key text that shaped the reforms. He compared the colonial systems of Britain and France with that of Spain, as the first two nations reaped far greater benefits than Spain. He advocated reforming Spain's economic relations with its overseas territories to a system more like the mercantilism of France's Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619–1683).
  The Bourbon reforms have been termed "a revolution in government" for their sweeping changes in the structure of administration that sought to strengthen the power of the Spanish state, decrease the power of local elites in favor of office holders from the Iberian peninsula, and increase revenues for the crown.
caption: José de Gálvez, Visitador general in New Spain and later Minister of the Indies.
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