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.