The Politics of Giving in the Viceroyalty of Rio de La Plata: Donors, Lenders, Subjects, and Citizens - Hardcover

Viviana L. Grieco

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0826354467 ISBN 13: 9780826354464

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press, 2014

Synopsis

During the eighteenth century, a time of almost constant international warfare, European states had to borrow money to finance their military operations. Servicing public debt demanded the collection of more taxes in a newly efficient manner, resulting in the emergence of what scholars call European “tax states.” This book examines a different kind of state finance, based on voluntary donations rather than taxes.

Relying on Spanish and Argentine archival research, the author analyzes the “gifts” (donativos) that residents of the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata, or colonial Argentina, gave to the Spanish Crown and the city council of Buenos Aires. She examines the cultural, political, constitutional, and legal practices associated with loans and donativos in comparison with the practices of other Atlantic states, emphasizing the quid pro quo offered by the crown in the form of appointments to office and other favors. Examining donors, donations, and expectations, she argues that the Spanish system achieved at the imperial level what the British empire and the French monarchy failed to accomplish.

About this title

About the Author:

Viviana L. Grieco is an associate professor of history at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 0826354467
• ISBN 13: 9780826354464
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304