The Social History of Cuba's Tobacco Farmers, 1763-1817 Charlotte A
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 3-12-2008 Rich and poor, white and black, slave and free : the social history of Cuba's tobacco farmers, 1763-1817 Charlotte A. Cosner Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Latin American History Commons Recommended Citation Cosner, Charlotte A., "Rich and poor, white and black, slave and free : the social history of Cuba's tobacco farmers, 1763-1817" (2008). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 2659. http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/2659 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida RICH AND POOR, WHITE AND BLACK, SLAVE AND FREE: THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CUBA’S TOBACCO FARMERS, 1763-1817 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in HISTORY by Charlotte A. Cosner 2008 To: Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences This dissertation, written by Charlotte A. Cosner, and entitled Rich and Poor, White and Black, Slave and Free: The Social History of Cuba's Tobacco Farmers, 1763-1817, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. Darden As bury Pyron N. David Cook Lisandro Perez Sherry Johnson, Major Professor Date of Defense: March 12, 2008 The dissertation of Charlotte A. Cosner is appr /ed. Dean Kenneth Furton College of Arts and Sciences Dean George Walker University Graduate School Florida International University, 2008 © Copyright 2008 by Charlotte A. Cosner All rights reserved. DEDICATION This dissertation is dedicated to the memories of my father, Raymond L. Cosner, and grandfather, Lester V. Cosner, the two men who first taught me about tobacco. “Daddy, I kept my promise.” ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Without the personal and academic support from many people and institutions, this project never would have been realized. I gratefully acknowledge the financial support from several institutions including the Lydia Cabrera Award Committee of the Conference on Latin American History, the Jay I. Kislak Foundation, the Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, the Department of History and the Cuban Research Institute of Florida International University, and the Ford Foundation. I was lucky enough to have access to archives in Spain, the United States, and Cuba. The staff and directors of the Archivo General de Indias, Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, the Archivo Nacional de Cuba, the Archivo Historico Provincial Pinar del Rio, the Special Collections of the Otto G. Richter Library at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and Special Collections of the Dorothea and Steven Green Library at Florida International University were gracious and extremely helpful in making my time in the archives not only productive, but also enjoyable. My academic debts are many. Early encouragement and advice came while I was still completing my bachelor’s degree. At Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Harold E. Greer, Jr.’s classes first introduced me to Latin American history. Colleagues Norman C. McLeod, Jr. and Guy R. Swanson at the Museum and White House of the Confederacy helped to convince me to attend graduate school. My interest in Cuban tobacco began with Dr. Kris E. Lane’s colonial Latin American history class at the University of Miami. His enthusiastic response to a paper on the subject started what would eventually become this dissertation. Dr. Jean Stubbs and the late Dr. Enrique Baloyra took early interest in my project and were instrumental in providing advice and encouragement. Faculty, staff, and fellow students in the History Department at Florida International University gave me a warm welcome in 2000 and have been my steadfast academic family ever since. The members of my dissertation committee-Dr. Sherry Johnson, Dr. Noble David Cook, Dr. Darden A. Pyron, and Dr. Lisandro Perez—always encouraged and motivated me, and were patient when other “projects” demanded my attention. I could never have asked for a better chair and mentor than Dr. Johnson. Her unwavering support and encouragment made this all possible, and I am eternally grateful. Yet, some of the greatest debts incurred are those to my friends and family. Through both the high and rough spots, they have stood by and encouraged me, and never let me give up. Particular thanks goes to my parents, Raymond and Hazel Cosner, John C. and Ruby Kelley, Robert Burton, and Nora Leal. Ultimately, this would never have been possible, or mean as much, without the help, support, and love of my husband, Rick Cardona, and our three children, Patrick, Virginia, and Adam. vi ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION RICH AND POOR, WHITE AND BLACK, SLAVE AND FREE: THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF CUBA’S TOBACCO FARMERS, 1763-1817 by Charlotte A. Cosner Florida International University, 2008 Miami, Florida Professor Sherry Johnson, Major Professor Tobacco was of primary importance to Spain, and its impact on Cuba’s economy and society was greater than just the numbers of farms, workers, or production, demonstrated by the Spanish crown’s outlay of monies for capital assets, bureaucrats’ salaries, and payments to farmers for their crop. This study is a micro- and macro-level study of rural life in colonial Cuba and the interconnected relationships among society, agricultural production, state control, and the island’s economic development. By placing Cuba’s tobacco farmers at the forefront of this social history, this work revisits and offers alternatives to two prevailing historiographical views of rural Cuba from 1763 (the year Havana returned to Spanish control following the Seven Years’ War) to 1817 (the final year of the 100-year royal monopoly on Cuban tobacco). Firstly, it argues against the primacy of sugar over other agricultural crops, a view that has shaped decades of scholarship, and challenges the thesis which maintains the Cuban tobacco farmer was almost exclusively poor, white, and employed free labor, rather than slaves, in the production of their crop. This study establishes the importance of tobacco as an agricultural product, and argues that Cuban tobacco growers were a heterogeneous group, revealing the role that its cultivation may have played in helping some slaves earn their freedom. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. The Cuban Veguero in Myth and History .... ......................................... 1 The Early History of Cuba’s Most Important “Weed” ..... 10 The Myth of the Cuban Veguero: Poor, White, and Isleno.......................................... 16 A New, Sugar-Free Approach to Cuban History....................................................... 23 II. From the Field to the Real Factoria de Tabaco ..... 34 Tobacco and the Grower ...... 38 Choice of Land and Preparation.................................................................... 42 Seed Beds, Sowing, and Transplanting ...... 45 ' Priming, Topping, and Suckering ............. 49 Cutting and Curing ..... 50 Packing the Tobacco for M arket ....... 53 Weather and Pests ..... 54 On to the Real Factoria... .................... 58 ID. Tobacco’s Chosen People ..... 70 Tobacco in their Blood...................... 75 The Historiographical Veguero: Poor, White and Canary Islander.......................... 76 The Lost Historical Vegueros: The Slave Vegueros ................................................ 86 The Free Vegueros of Color................. 97 The Military Vegueros................................................................... 98 The Clerical Vegueros................................. 106 The Noble Vegueros........................................ 109 The Female Vegueros..... 117 IV. A View Down Tobacco Road: A Case Study of Pinar del Rio................ 122 The Importance of Tobacco................................ 131 A Difficult Life for Filipinas’ “Buena Gente”. ......... 136 Tobacco’s Chosen People ....... 142 The Interconnected Nature of Tobacco Cultivation ...... 158 The Business of the King’s Crop... ...... 172 Contraband and the Lure of the Devil’s Weed.............. 174 V. The Business of the King’s Crop ....... 179 Cuba’s Tobacco Monopoly (1717-1817) ........ 184 The Tobacco Monopoly’s Bureaucratic Structure................................. 190 The Operation of the Tobacco Monopoly ...... 212 Cuba’s Estanco: A Comparative Perspective and An Analysis of its Effects....... 225 VI. Contraband and the Devil’s W eed... ........................................................... The Right Product at the Right Place ...................................................... 239 When the Good Guys turn Bad................................ 250 Undermining the Monopoly through More Subtle Forms of Resistance 256 The Lure of the “Devil’s Weed” ........ 261 VH Cuban Counterpoint Revisited ...... 268 A Sugar-Free Countryside.......................................................................... 270 Tobacco’s Economic Impact ...... 279 The Tobacco Monopoly in Context ..... 285 Tobacco in Perspective....... .......................................... BIBLIOGRAPHY.... .... ............................................................................................