Alchohol Abuse and Tavern Reform in Late Colonial Mexico Michael C
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University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Faculty Publications History, Department of 11-1-1980 Alchohol Abuse and Tavern Reform in Late Colonial Mexico Michael C. Scardaville University of South Carolina - Columbia, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/hist_facpub Part of the History Commons Publication Info Published in Hispanic American Historical Review, Volume 60, Issue 4, 1980, pages 643-671. http://www.hahr.pitt.edu/ © 1980 by Duke University Press This Article is brought to you by the History, Department of at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Hispanic AmericanHistorical Review 60(4), 1980, 643-671 Copyright? 1980 by Duke UniversityPress AlcoholAbuse and Tavern Reformin Late Colonial Mexico City MICHAEL C. SCARDAVILLE* STUDIES on drinkingcustoms and practicesin a number of eighteenthand early nineteenth-centuryAmerican and European cities all underlinethe importanceof al- coholicbeverages and tavernsin the lives of the poor. The workson the lower classes of London, Paris, and New Yorkalso documentthe social ills resultingfrom alcohol abuse, most notably,poverty, crime, family dissolution,and disease.' The studyof alcohol use and abuse in colonial Mexico, however,has been severelyhampered by the controversyen- genderedby proponentsof the Black and WhiteLegends. The simplistic Black Legend view of exploitedand demoralizedinebriated native peo- ples was based on standard,often published accounts of moralizing Span- ish officialsand clergywho essentiallypresented traditionalHispanic attitudestowards the Indians and theiruse of intoxicants. Almosta decade ago, one historianwrote that "alcoholismremains one of the importantrelatively unstudied topics in Spanish colonialhis- tory,"and called fora moratoriumon unsubstantiatedgeneralizations and forserious archival research.2 William B. Taylorhas recentlypublished the firstmajor studyon alcohol use in New Spain, althoughit concen- tratesprimarily on the drinkinghabits and patternsin the countryside.3 *The authoris Historianof the HistoricSt. AugustinePreservation Board, a museum dedicated to the studyof Spanish colonial Florida. 1. DorothyM. George, London Life in the XVIIIth Century(New York, 1926); J.J. Tobias, Crime and IndustrialSociety in the 19th Century(New York, 1967); Louis Che- valier,Laboring Classes and Dangerous Classes in Paris duringthe First Half of theNine- teenthCentury, trans. by FrankJellinek (New York, 1973); JeffreyKaplow, The Names of Kings: The Parisian Laboring Poor in the EighteenthCentury (New York, 1972); Douglas Greenberg,Crime and Law Enforcementin the Colony of New York,1691-1776 (Ithaca, 1974); RaymondMohl, Povertyin New York,1783-1825 (New York, 1971). 2. Lewis Hanke, "A Modest Proposal fora Moratoriumon Grand Generalizations: Some Thoughtson the Black Legend," HAHR, 51 (Feb. 1971), 112, 114. For the White Legend position,see Benjamin Keen's two articles,"The Black Legend Revisited: As- sumptionsand Realities," HAHR, 49 (Nov. 1969), 703-719 and "The White Legend Re- visited:A Replyto ProfessorHanke's 'Modest Proposal',"HAHR, 51 (May 1971), 336-355. 3. WilliamB. Taylor,Drinking, Homicide and Rebellionin Colonial MexicanVillages (Stanford,1979). 644 HAHR I NOVEMBER I MICHAEL C. SCARDAVILLE The purpose of this article,however, is to examine the less inhibited urban traditionsof alcohol use in late colonial Mexico by studyingthe pervasiveuse of intoxicantsamong the poor of Mexico City,both Indian and non-Indianalike, in the late eighteenthand early nineteenthcen- turies. The nature of the ubiquitous legal and illegal tavernsand the abortiveprogram to reformthe drinkingplaces will also be analyzedto illustratethe importancethe poor attachedto intoxicantsand the ambi- valent attitudethe administrativeand economic elites held towardthe use of alcohol among Mexico City'spoor.4 Intoxicationposed an unendingproblem for royal and viceregalgov- ernmentsin colonial Mexico. Withina decade afterCortes defeatedthe Aztecs, the Spanishcrown promulgated legislation regulating the use of alcoholicbeverages among the conquered Indians.5Despite a streamof prohibitionsagainst public intoxicationover the three succeedingcen- turies,the lower classes of the colonyreadily and excessivelyimbibed a myriadof legal and illegal intoxicatingbeverages. By the late colonial period, the last halfcentury before the outbreakof the independence wars in 1810, the colonial authoritiescontended that galloping intoxica- tionrates among the poor threatenedthe abilityof the stateto effectively governSpain's richestcolony and its populous administrativeand finan- cial center,Mexico City. Withthe poor comprisingover eighty-fiveper- cent of the city's112,926 inhabitantsin 1790, littlewonder the viceroys fearedthat the errantbehavior caused by alcoholabuse underminedlaw and order in the largestand most rapidlygrowing urban centerin late eighteenthand earlynineteenth-century New Spain.6 Archivaland published sources all indicatethat alcoholic beverages (especiallypulque, aguardiente,and tepache) and taverns(pulquerias, casas de pulque, tepacherias,and vinaterias)assumed a centralrole in 4. This articleis based on materialsconsulted in the followingarchives of Mexico City: ArchivoGeneral de la Naci6n (hereaftercited as AGN), Archivodel AntiguoAyuntarniento (AAA), ArchivoJudicial del Tribunal(AJT), Archivo General del Juzgado(AGJ), and the BibliotecaNacional de Mexico (BN). 5. Cedula, Aug. 24, 1529, AGN, Historia,vol. 573, exp. 2, fols.6-6v. 6. Accordingto the 1790 census of Mexico City,the poor, definedin thisarticle as a collectionof unemployed vagrants, low skilledand factoryworkers, and artisans,comprised 88.1 percent of the population. "Estado general de la poblaci6n de Mexico, capital de Nueva Espafia. afio de 1790," AGN, Impresos Oficiales,vol. 51, exp. 48. It is my contentionthat despite a wide range of incomes between highlyskilled artisanssuch as silversmithsand unskilledlaborers such as watercarriers, the poor formeda distinctsub- culturein whichmany members shared similar attitudes and patternsof conduct which la gente culta, or upper classes, regardedas alien and deviant.Testimony in criminalcases and police arrestrecords illustrates the similarityin values and behavioramong the lower classes of Mexico City in the late colonialperiod. ALCOHOL ABUSE AND TAVERN REFORM 645 the lives ofthe urbanpoor.7 A Spanishvisitor to MexicoCity in the 1790s was impressednot only with its opulence, but also with the excessive numbersof drunkshe saw throughoutall sectionsof the metropolis.8 Contemporariescommented that drinking crimes represented the most commonlycommitted offenses in Mexico Cityin the late colonialperiod. Data takenfrom a series ofpolice and courtrecords called librosde reos underlinethe prevalenceof intoxicants.9Drink related offenses,which included public intoxication,tavern violations, and illegal sale of intoxi- cants, accountedfor more than forty-fivepercent of all arrestsin 1798, the year forwhich the data is most complete: twenty-fourpercent for taverninfractions, twenty-one percent fordrunkenness, and less than one percentfor the unlawfulsale of alcoholicbeverages. 10 In thatyear the citypolice forcesapprehended over 2,300 persons,or approximately three percent of the drinking-agepopulation, for public intoxication.11 During the day and especiallyevenings, the streetsof the capital and even the stepsof the cathedralwere so clutteredwith unconscious drunks 7. Pulque is a fermenteddrink made fromthe juice of the magueyor agave plant. The intoxicantwas sold in eitherthe legal pulquerias (pulque taverns)or illegal casas de pulque (pulque houses). Tepache, an alcoholicbeverage made fromsour pulque mixedwith brownsugar and a varietyof citrusfruits, was sold in the unsanctionedtepache bars or tepacherias.Aguardiente de cana (cane alcohol) is a distilledliquor made fromsugarcane. Althoughvinaterias had been establishedin the sixteenthcentury as wine tavernsfor the Spanish inhabitantsof the city, they had become primarilyaguardiente taverns by the eighteenthcentury. Pulque in itsvarious pure and adulteratedforms was the principaldrink in the lives of the urbanpoor at the end of the colonialperiod, witheach person over fifteenyears of age consumingapproximately 187 gallonsannually. Consumption of aguardientewas con- siderablyless, althoughits higheralcohol contentcompensated for this difference to some extent.Between 1797 and 1804, per capita consumptionof the intoxicantin Mexico City rangedbetween 2.5 and 4 gallons annually.For an extended discussionof consumption rates, see Michael Charles Scardaville,"Crime and the Urban Poor: Mexico City in the Late Colonial Period" (Ph.D. Diss., Universityof Florida, 1977), pp. 211-212. 8. Diario de Madrid, Jan.25, 1791 as quoted in Gazetas de MWxico,Aug. 2, 1791, p. 366. 9. The librosde reos are summaryinventories of 6,064 arrestsand informaland formal judicial hearingsconducted in the nine lower tribunalsof late colonial Mexico City. The ten extantbooks cover the years 1794, 1795, 1796, 1798, 1800, and 1807, and represent criminaldata recorded in the courts of the major judicial officials(corregidor and two alcaldes ordinaries)and in the police districtsof the minorward police (alcaldes de barrio). The librosare locatedin the ArchivoJudicial del Tribunaland ArchivoGeneral del Juzgado, two majorcivil and penal archivesin Mexico City.