|The fact that part of the initial presidio
at Tucson was built at Allande's personal expense and that he did not appeal
to the royal treasury for any construction costs reveals that he must have
been a man of means and financial acumen. Not least of his fiscal triumphs
was the promotion at Tucson of a contribution to Spain's efforts to assist
in the American Revolutionary War. Without the Spanish offensive along
the southern seaboard and patrols up and down the Mississippi River protecting
our Thirteen Colonies from rearguard action by the British, the outcome
of the war might have been very different. In August of 1780, "the
insulting tyranny of the English nation" forced King Charles III of
Spain to appeal to his New World colonies for a donativo or free-will
offering. Skeptics may say that a "donation" was only a euphemism
for a coercive tax. The Spanish government, however, did everything in
its power to prevent coercion in any form. The royal suggestion, that each
Spaniard gives two pesos and each Indian one peso, was only a guideline,
not a command. Viceroy Martín de Mayorga sent out a list of thirteen
instructions to those who supervised the operation in the Spanish Southwest
and in the rest of New Spain. Commissioners of the collection had to give
each donor a receipt and turn in the signature of each one, attesting to
the amount he gave, lest the accounts be
tampered with by unscrupulous officials. The eighth instruction strictly forbade the commissioners of the collection to use any coercion whatsoever or show any sign of displeasure if the prospective donor gave nothing at all. Many obviously gave more than the suggested one or two pesos. Tucson's contribution was remarkably high, considering that it was an infant settlement, and more than doubled the amount taken up in the wealthy capital at Arizpe. The collection and tabulation of these donations coincided with most of Allande's years in Tucson, beginning with the royal decree of 1780 and ending with the final Sonora tabulation during the summer of Allande's departure in 1786. The final account revealed that the military personnel and settlers at Tucson had given 459 pesos and that Spanish Sonora as a whole had given 22,420. The final report, made in Mexico City in 1787, revealed that New Spain had donated nearly a million pesos to the Revolutionary War effort. At the time, three to five pesos would buy a whole beef and six to eight pesos would buy an excellent riding horse. Some historians equate the eighteenth-century Spanish peso with the American dollar of the time. Eight reales equaled one peso.
The following documents are the royal decree of 1780 and the final tabulation of the donation for Spanish Sonora.
August 17, 1780.
The insulting tyranny of the English nation has precipitated me into a war, the exorbitant cost of which has forced me to raise the revenue exacted from the provinces of our Spanish homeland by a third. I had hoped not to have to extend this burden to my loyal subjects in America, even though they would seem to be the principal target of the grasping avarice of my enemies. Nevertheless,
I have always been able to count on the faithful generosity of the voluntary contributions of those vast and wealthy colonies. To make this burden as light as possible, I have resolved to ask for a donativo of one peso from every freeman who is an Indian or of mixed blood, and two pesos from every Spaniard and those of the higher class. These last may also pay for their servants and workers and later discount the amount from their salaries or daily wages.
Therefore, I command all of my royal officials in the Indies to announce and explain my royal decree so that all of the inhabitants of the Indies will once again have opportunity to show me their love and gratitude for the benefits I have bestowed on them. I also charge all of my church officials there to expedite this project by their persuasion and good example, for this is my will.
All copies of this decree, duly signed by my Secretary of State and Universal Office of the Indies, who also signs below, shall have the same force as the original.
Given at San Ildefonso, on this seventeenth day of August of the year seventeen hundred and eighty.
I, THE KING
Copy of the original. JOSE DE GALVEZ.
This total has been deposited in the royal treasury at El Rosario and the comptroller's office here in Arizpe, as certified by all of the necessary signatures. A pledge of 369 pesos by the military personnel and settlers of the Fronteras presidio and the village of Cuquiárachi has not been collected.15
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Desert Documentary by Kieran McCarty - Chapter 12
Tucson, Arizona: Arizona Historical Society, 1976.
© 1976 The Arizona Historical Society. All Rights Reserved.