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Boom and Bust: The Rise and Fall of the Tobacco Industry in Spanish Louisiana, 1770-1790
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
Extract
French royal officials, speculators such as John Law, and the French Crown itself had placed great hopes in the development of the tobacco industry in French Louisiana. Some officials even anticipated that Louisiana tobacco might someday be grown in sufficient quantities to supply all the needs of the French Tobacco Monopoly. These lofty expectations were never realized although tobacco production did reach 400,000 pounds in 1740.
By the time of the transfer of the colony to Spain in 1766 the perils of war and erratic shipping had almost killed the industry. Most planters had switched to the more profitable production of indigo. Historian Jacob Price claims that the failure of the French government's efforts to develop the tobacco trade resulted from a misunderstanding about costs. In Louisiana, he writes, labor was expensive and freight dear, yet French authorities expected Louisiana tobacco to be competitive in price in the French market with Virginia tobacco, grown in an established market, with abundant labor, and much closer to Europe. Fortunately, the Spanish officials had no such illusions.
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1986
References
1 Price, Jacob, France and the Chesapeake: A History of the French Tobacco Monopoly, 1674–1791, and of its Relationship to the British and American Trades (Ann Arbor, 1973), 1, 357.Google Scholar
2 Testimonio del Expediente Sobre Siembra y Cultivo de Tabaco en Luisiana, 1782, Archivo General de Indias, Sección XI, Papeles Procedentes de Cuba, legajo 610 (Hereinafter cited AGI, PC followed by the legajo number). The Renta de Tabaco has recently been the subject of an excellent study by McWatters, David Lome, “The Royal Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico,” (PhD Dissertation, University of Florida, 1979).Google Scholar
3 Julian de Arriaga a Luis de Unzaga, May 20, 1771, Kinnaird, Lawrence, ed Spain in the Mississippi Valley, 1765–1794. 3 vols. Annual Report of the AHR for 1945. Washington, D.C. 1946-1949. Book I, Vol. II, p. 193.Google Scholar
4 Real Orden a Governor of Louisiana, Aranjuez, May 21, 1776, Archivo General de Indias, Sección V: Gobierno, Audiencia de Mexico, legajo 1622. (Hereinafter cited as AGI, Mexico followed by the legajo number).
5 Testimonio de expediente a consequencia de real orden sobre fabrica de cigarros eon oja de maiz y traer tabacos de la Luisiana, AGI, Mexico 1622. The word puro was a short form for cigarro puro. The addition of the word is attributed to a French priest Labat who wrote about the advantages of the cigar in 1700. The word cigarros probably referred to a primitive form of cigarette, which was introduced to New Spain from Guatemala in 1776, the tobacco being wrapped in maize leaves instead of paper. These cigarros were popular in many parts of Spanish America and were later introduced in Europe. A good discussion of Spanish tobacco customs is: Vidal, José Pérez, Españ en la História del Tabaco (Madrid, 1959).Google Scholar
6 Advice of Felipe de Hierro and José de la Riva, Directores de la Renta, Mexico, October 10, 1776. In: Testimonio de expediente a consequencia …, AGI, Mexico 1622. McWatters, “The Royal Tobacco Monopoly,” describes a tercio as being made up of 80 to 100 smaller bundles of tobacco known as manojos. These tercois. in turn were bundled using mats of cord and palm, p. 60.
7 Martín Navarro a José de Gálvez, No. 7, New Orleans, April 11, 1780, AGI, PC 633; Real Orden, José de Gálvez a Sr. Intendente, June 5, 1781, AGI, PC 569.
8 Navarro a José de Gálvez, No. 8, Aprii 12, 1780, 1780, AGI, PC 633.
9 Navarro a José de Gálvez, April 12, 1780, and marginal notation, Archivo General de Indias, Sección V: Gobierno, Audiencia de Santo Domingo, legajo 2633, No. 190. (Hereinafter cited as AGI, SD followed by the legajo number and document number if given).
10 Navarro a José de Gálvez, No 52, June 25, 1781, AGI, SD 2633, No. 201.
11 Navarro a Nicolas Delassize (de la Chaise), September 18, 1781, AGI, PC 83.
12 Navarro a José de Gálvez, No 100, September 10, ©781, AGI, SD 2633, No. 207.
13 Navarro a José de Gálvez, No 111, April 30, 1781, AGI, SD 2633, No. 214.
14 Ibid.
15 Informe, Martín Navarro a José de Gálvez, No 127, September 12, 1782, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 219–222.
16 Navarro prepared the design for the warehouses in the absence of a trained engineer in the colony. One of them was built in 1789. A copy of Navarro’s plans exists in AGI, Mapos y Planos, Luisiana y Florida, Nos. 96 and 97; Real Orden a Navarro, November 22, 1783, AGI, PC 569.
17 Martín de Mayorga a Navarro, April 26, 1781, AGI, PC 610; Felipe de Hierro a Mayorga, March 1, 1781, AGI, PC 610.
18 Expediente sobre formenta la Siembra y cultivo tabaco en la provincia de Luisiana, Dirección General de la Real Renta de Tabaco, 1782, AGI, PC 610.
19 Felipe de Hierro a Mayorga, Mexico, July 22, 1781, in Ibid. A marginal notation read, “advise Sr. Navarro of these providences.”
20 Navarro a Martín Mayorga, March 24, 1783, AGI, SD 2633, No. 254.
21 Instrucción de lo que deve observar José Antonio de Castillo, Martín Navarro, March 20, 1783, AGI, SD 2633, No. 258.
22 Ibid.
23 Navarro a Mayorga, March 24, 1783, AGI, SD 2633, No. 254.
24 Navarro a Matías de Gálvez, July 27, 1784, AGI, SD 2633, No. 303.
25 Audiencia/Gobernadora de Mexico a Navarro, April 19, 1785, AGI, PC 610. The four instructors left New Orleans on the brig San José, each receiving a gratification of 25 pesos. Navarro a Audiencia/ Gobernadora de Mexico, July 30, 1785, AGI, PC 610.
26 The tobacco was first sown in a seedbed. When it had sprouted four leaves it was transplanted and placed in prepared holes a foot broad and three feet apart. The leaves had to be watered and protected from encroaching weeds and insects. This required careful and continuous weeding. When a desired number of leaves had grown (usually 12 in Louisiana) the top of the plant was pinched off to prevent seeds developing. Suckers growing out at the base were also pinched off. At harvest the leaves were stripped from the stalk and strung on long poles to air. When dry, they were then piled in heaps to sweat. Finally, at the proper stage of dryness they were ready for manufacture into andullos.
27 Testimonio del Expediente Sobre la Siembra y Cultivo Tabaco en la Provincia de la Luisiana, Dirección General de la Real Renta de Tabaco, 1782, AGI, PC 610.
28 Informe, Felipe de Hierro a Riva, October 20, 1784, AGI, PC 610.
29 Navarro a Conde de Gálvez (Bernardo), December 12, 1785; Conde de Gálvez a Navarro, March 30, 1786, AGI, PC 610.
30 Navarro a Conde de Gálvez, No. 22, December 14, 1785, AGI, PC 610.
31 Ibid., Conde de Gálvez a Navarro, January 26, 1786, AGI, PC 610.
32 Vidal, José Pérez, España en la Historia del Tabaco, pp. 76–83.Google Scholar
33 Ibid.
34 Real Cédula en la que se previene se fabrique nueva labor de tabaco rapé, July 22, 1786, AGI, SD 2633, No. 562; Navarro a Sonora (José de Gálvez), No. 426, November 25, 1786, AGI, SD 2633, No. 350.
35 Real Orden, Marqués de Sonora a Navarro, December 20, 1786, AGI, PC 560; Real Orden a Navarro, San Ildefónso, August 18, 1787, AGI, SD 2633, No. 350.
36 Local concumption involved the manufacture into pipe tobacco, cigars, and to supply a small snuff factory in New Orleans. Regarding the latter see: Alexo Lardin sobre el reconocimiento de una cajas de quinta exencia (essencia), November 20, 1786, Louisiana State Museum, Judicial Records of the Spanish Cabildo, No. 178611201. Tobacco was also used in the Indian Trade.
37 A more exact description of making andullos is in: Robert, Joseph C., The Story of Tobacco in America (Chapel Hill, 1949), pp. 50–51.Google Scholar
38 Informe, Navarro a José de Gálvez, No. 427, November 25, 1786, AGI, SD 2633, No. 355.
39 Navarro a José de Gálvez, Nos. 484 and 485, April 20, 1785, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 373 and 374.
40 Pedro de Lerena a Marqués de Sonora, El Pardo, January 28, 1787, AGI, SD 2633, No. 581.
41 León de Torres, Director de la Fábrica de Rapé en Sevilla, y Arana, a Señores Administradores Generales, March 7, 1787, AGI, SD 2633, No. 589.
42 Navarro a Marqués de Sonora, No. 542, August 28, 1787; Statement of Natchez Growers, August 20, 1787, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 382 and 385.
43 Navarro a Antonio Valdes, No. 64, March 7, 1788, AGI, SD 2633, No. 297, with enclosure, “Representation made by the Inhabitants of Natchez”, undated; Real Orden a Navarro, San Ildefónso, September 27, 1788, AGI, SD 2633, No. 404.
44 Pedro de Lerena, First Minister of the Treasury, a Antonio Valdes, First Minister of the Indies, San Ildefónso, August 14, 1787; Real Orden a Navarro, San Ildefónso, August 18, 1787, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 611 and 615.
45 Minutes of the Junta de Dirección de Indias, December 21, 1790, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 692–727.
46 Conde de Revillagigedo, Viceroy of New Spain, a Señores Directores del Tabaco, October 27, 1787, in Expediente sobre tabaco, Testimonio No. 3, 1804, AGI, Mexico 1622.
47 Liljegren, Ernest R., “Jacobinism in Spanish Louisiana, 1792–1797, Louisiana Historical Quarterly, 22 (January, 1939), 22.Google Scholar
48 Ibid.
49 Francisco Rendón a Diego Gardoqui, No. 89, November 30, 1795, and No. 124, April 18, 1796, AGI, SD 2613; Juan Ventura Morales a Diego Gardoqui, No. 62, December 1, 1796, AGI, SD 2613; Ramón de López y Angulo a Cayetano Soler, No. 36, January 20, 1801, AGI, SD 2617.
50 Navarro retired from the Intendency, May 10, 1788, turning his papers over to Esteban Miró, in whom the King had decided to invest ihe additional responsibilities of Intendant. On June 15 he boarded the frigate San Miguel bound for Cádiz, which he reached September 4, 1788. Miró a Antonio Valdes, June 15, 1788; Real Orden a Esteban Miró, San Ildefónso, September 4, 1788, AGI, SD 2633, Nos. 46 and 49.