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The Entrepreneurial Reorganization of an Artisan Trade: The Bakers of Buenos Aires, 1770-1820

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Lyman L. Johnson
Lyman L. Johnson*
Affiliation:
The University of North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina
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Extract

Although there have been numerous important contributions to the social history of colonial Spanish America published in recent years, these studies have generally ignored the artisan and semi-skilled working classes that were, numerically, the largest urban components of these societies. This article will examine one colonial artisan group, the bakers of Buenos Aires, during a period when the city and its hinterland experienced significant economic and political change, 1770-1820. At the beginning of the period, Buenos Aires was little more than a large village with a population of approximately 20,000 and an economy dominated by contraband trade. As part of a major reform of Spanish strategic and economic policy, Buenos Aires was selected in 1776 as the political capital of a new viceroyalty that included the vast region bordered by the Andes, the Atlantic and Brazil. The city's new political importance with a viceregal court, enlarged military garrisons and augmented bureaucracy stimulated both urban and regional economies and attracted large numbers of immigrants from the interior and from Europe. It is increasingly clear that these alterations in the city's economic life and social structure contributed to the political crisis that culminated in the independence period. Although this study will concentrate on a single occupational group, it is hoped that this effort to measure the responses of the bakers to the altered opportunities and challenges of the late colonial and early independence periods will also provide some new insights into the economic and political history of the region during this crucial period.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , October 1980 , pp. 139 - 160
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1980

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References

1 Two notable exceptions to this tendency are Lockhart, James in his excellent Spanish Peru 1532–1560 (Madison, Wisconsin, 1968)Google Scholar and Bowser, Frederick who discusses the participation of blacks in artisan crafts in colonial Peru in The African Slave in Colonial Peru, 1684–1750 (Stanford, 1974).Google Scholar In addition I have published an article on another porteño artisan group, “The Silversmiths of Colonial Buenos Aires: A Case Study in the Failure of Corporate Social Organization,” Journal of Latin American Studies (November, 1976) Vol. 8, part 2, pp. 181–213.

2 Archivo General de la Nación, Buenos Aires, Argentina (hereafter called AGN), División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Bandos, Libro 2.

3 Ibid, The Cabildo charged that ship's bakers were jumping ship in Buenos Aires and quickly becoming rich by manipulating the city's bread supply.

4 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Bandos, Libro 3.

5 The Cabildo’s implementation of these punitive regulations is found in Archivo General de la Nación, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, 47 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1907–1934) serie iii, tomo v, p. 30.

6 AGN, Divisioión Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Bandos, Libro 2.

7 The entire census is published in Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Documentos para la historia argentina, vol. ix, territorio y población, Padron de la ciudad de Buenos Aires (1778), (Buenos Aires, 1919).

8 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Interior, Legajo 10, Expediente 22.

9 An analysis of the artisan community of Buenos Aires in 1780 is found in Johnson, Lyman L., “The Artisans of Buenos Aires During the Viceroyalty, 1776–1810.”(Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Connecticut, 1974), chapter 5, passim.Google Scholar

10 Facultad de Filosofìa y Letras, Documentos para la historia argentina, vol. xi, p. 102 for Ysidro Delgado and p. 235 for Sebastián Rodriguez.

11 As part of an ongoing study of the artisan community, I examined all apprenticeship contracts found in the seven colonial Registros de Escribanía at the AGN and found no contracts involving a baker.

l2 The census of 1810 is found in AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Censo de 1810. Data on the occupations of slaveowners can be derived also from García Belsunce, Cesar A., et al., Buenos Aires Su Gente, 1800–1830. (Buenos Aires, 1976), Anejo I.Google Scholar

l3 By 1820 virtually all of the Spanish and other European-born bakers had been eliminated from the profession by the combination of discriminatory laws and punitive taxes. For an example of Spaniards being excluded from craft affairs and paying discriminatory taxes see AGN Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo vii, p. 239.

14 All bakers registered in the surviving portions of the census of 1810 were located and identified by nationality. AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Censo de 1810.

l5 Susan M. Socolow in an ongoing study of professional sectors in colonial Buenos Aires has found that many of the clergy, lawyers and military officers of the colony were the children of artisans. For specific cases where the sons of bakers entered these professions see AGN, Sucesiones 7709 and 7371.

16 The census of 1778 and the visita of 1781 have been cited previously in notes 7 and 8 respectively. The list of bakers for 1784 is found in AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1784; for 1790 see AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Tribunales, Legajo P 12, Expediente 7; for 1791 see AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iii, tomo ix, P. 584; for 1794 see AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Hacienda, Legajo 76, Expediente 2002; for 1805 see AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1805; for 1807 see Ibid., Año 1807 (Mayo-Agosto); for 1808 see Ibid., Año 1808 (Enero-Febrero); and for 1810 the bakers were extracted from AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Censo de 1810.

l7 One of Stephen Thernstron’s most important contributions in The Other Bostonians (Cambridge, 1973) P. 16, was “ … that the actual number of separate families who lived in Boston at some point between 1880 and 1890 was a staggering 296,388, more than three times the total number residing there at any one time in this 10-year period!”My research on the late-colonial period would suggest a similar level of population movement for Buenos Aires. Certainly, this level of in and out migration was present among bakers.

18 Socolow, Susan Migden, The Merchants of Buenos Aires 1778–1810 (Cambridge, 1978) p. 40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

19 Brading, D.A., Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico 1763–1810 (Cambridge, 1971) p. 312,Google Scholar and Socolow, , The Merchants of Buenos Aires, p. 171.Google Scholar

20 AGN, Registro de Escribano 6, 1781.

21 AGN, Registro de Escribano 5, 1798–1799.

22 AGN, Registro de Escribano 3, 1813.

23 AGN, Registro de Escribano 7, 1808–1809.

24 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1784.

25 An excellent short discussion of the concept of just price is found in Wilson, George W., “The Economics of the Just Price,” History of Political Economy, vol. 7, no. I (1975) pp. 56–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar The quotation is from p. 69.

26 Facultad de Filosofía y Letros, Documentos para la historia del virreinato, 3 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1912–1913), vol. 1, pp. 72–73.

27 Becú, Ricardo Zorraguín, La organización política argentina (Buenos Aires, 1967), pp. 340–341.Google Scholar

28 Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Documentos para la historia del virreinato, vol. 1, pp. 122–125.

29 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1784.

30 Ibid.

31 AGN, Registro de Escribano 2, 1800–1801.

32 AGN, Sucesiones 7371.

33 AGN, Sucesiones 5872.

34 The creation of the office of veedor is found in AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iii, tomo ix, p. 269.

35 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Tribunales, Legajo P 12, Expediente 18.

36 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Tribunales, Legajo P 12, Expediente 7.

37 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Tribunales, Lagajo 13, Expediente 8.

38 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1807.

39 Complaints that bakers were hoarding wheat and causing artificial shortages were registered throughout the period. Some examples can be found in the following documents. AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1803; AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo 1, p. 291; AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1809; and AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Hacienda, Legajo 76, Expediente 2002.

40 AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1805; Ibid., Año 1807 (Mayo-Agosto); Ibid., Año 1806.

41 The building of a public granary was suggested by the fiel ejecutor, Antonio Obligado, in 1782. Facultad de Filosofia y Letras, Documentos para la historia del virreinato, vol. 1, p. 125. The idea was presented again by Martin Álzaga as síndico procurador in 1790. AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Tribunales, Legajo P 12, Expediente 7.

42 AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo 1, p. 291.

43 The best discussion of the relationship between increased military expenditures and the collapse of the colonial regime is found in chapter 11, vol. 1, “Crisis del régimen rentístico virreinal,”of Levene’s, Ricardo La revolución de mayo y Mariano Moreno, 4th ed., 3 vols. (Buenos Aires, 1960).Google Scholar

44 Placing a tax on bread as a means of supplementing municipal revenues was first suggested to the Cabildo in 1787 by the wealthy merchant Tomás Villota as part of a comprehensive plan to curtail violations of the arancel. AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iii, tomo viii, pp. 694–695.

45 The proposed tax was discussed and passed by the Cabildo on November 14, 1810. AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo iv. p. 278. The decision of the Junta to implement the tax is found in AGN, División Colonia, Sección Gobierno, Archivo del Cabildo, Año 1810.

46 For reference to the collection of the tax see AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo v, p. 689.

47 Ibid., The fiel ejecutor, Pedro Lecica, informed the Cabildo in November 1813 that bakers were defrauding the government by reporting only a fraction of their actual production. Because the fiel ejecutor had such diverse and time-consuming duties, he was unable to police effectively the collection of this tax or even bring the most obvious offenders before the courts. Finally, in December 1813 the fiel ejecutor received permission from the Junta to collect the tax based upon his estimation of a baker's production. Ibid., p. 705.

48 The first Rematador del Ramo de vendaje de pan was Brauli Costa. As with his successors, Costa left office owing money to the government. AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo vii, p. 201. The final settlement of his debt is found in AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo viii, p. 69.

49 Examples of accusations of fraud and subsequent appeals to the Cabildo can be found in AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo vii, pp. 121, 201, 399, 519 and 617.

50 AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo viii, p. 153.

51 Ibid., p. 85.

52 AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo v, pp. 255–257 for the initial assessment. The subsequent downward revisions are found in Ibid., p. 305 and ibid., p. 314.

53 AGN, Acuerdo del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo v, p. 595.

54 Examples of appeals by bakers for a reduction in monthly contribution payments can be found in AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo vii, pp. 240, 302, 303–304, 370 and 409.

55 AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo vi, p. 487.

56 AGN, Acuerdos del Extinguido Cabildo de Buenos Aires, serie iv, tomo viii, p. 348.