STRUGGLING AGAINST INDEPENDENCE: LOYALIST EXILES’ VIEWS ON IMPERIAL RULE DURING AND AFTER THE SPANISH AMERICAN REVOLUTIONS

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines how the loyalist exiles of the Spanish American revolutions drew upon their experiences to debate the best ways to preserve imperial rule in the remaining colonies. Delving on the stories of José Domingo Díaz and Miguel Tacón-Intendant of Puerto Rico in the 1820s and Captain General of Cuba in the 1830s, respectively-it traces how they advocated an imperial project rooted in unrestricted obedience to colonial officers, the consolidation of the Captain General’s power, and the opposition to local autonomies. To this end, they weaponized their experiences on the continent and in the Caribbean, claiming that the Spanish Empire should learn from royalists’ mistakes in order to halt the advance of revolution and the emergence of the racial war. For them, the diagnosis was simple: the constitutional rule undermined the royalist cause, thwarting its attempts to preserve racial hierarchies and political stability. Therefore, the solution also seemed straightforward: the Spanish Empire should adopt a new colonial order in which the monarchy unapologetically decided to reinforce its power and racial hierarchies in the Spanish Antilles. Díaz and Tacón’s stories shed light on the impact of the mainland’s independence on the transformations experienced by the Spanish Empire during the Age of Revolution.

Keywords

• exile
• experience
• Spanish American Revolutions
• counterrevolution
• empire