Economics and Credit

Pedro de Rivera Villalón may have exaggerated the role of governor as the sole source for currency in Nuevo México. As indicated in the last post, other people regularly went to Chihuahua and Parral where they may have traded for cash.

However, his access to the payroll did put him in an ambiguous position. He bought supplies, then sold them to soldiers and deducted the costs from their salaries at prices he controlled.

The men themselves didn’t complain because the governor, Juan de Bustamante, "was able to keep accurate records."

The governors cached money from the payroll by continuing the salaries for unfilled positions. In 1726, Rivera found there were "800 pesos from the position of Don Alonso Rael de Aguilar, which had been vacant for two years; 225 pesos from another vacant post."

In addition, the previous governor, Antonio Valverde "had 2,084 pesos on deposit, which came from Don Félix Martínez’s position." Martínez, who was governor between 1715 and 1716, had left another "2,139 pesos" that passed to Bustamante. Rivera impounded it all.

Very little of the presidio money reached Santa Cruz, except through family transactions. Agricultural societies were notoriously bereft of hard cash. Money lending in anticipation of crops greased trade that otherwise would have stagnated. Barter served as the common exchange medium.

Charles Cutter suggested the use of two currency rates hindered the accumulation of wealth in the colony. Merchants used the peso de plata when they set prices, but used the peso de la tierra when they accepted farm goods in payment. The one was worth about twice the other.

Cristóbal Tafoya Altamirano was probably typical of the middling level in the local economy. He borrowed currency, which he repaid in agricultural goods, and sold livestock where he could.

He left a record of his dealings with one of the governors. He said he had agreed to serve Martínez for 430 pesos a year, and that he had received a 200 advance from him in Mexico City and 160 in Santa Cruz.

Since Martínez’s tenure was cut short, Tafoya was left owing him 200 pesos. As of 1718, he had "paid him twenty fanegas of corn at the price of two pesos each, and three of wheat at two pesos and fifty cents each."

One doesn’t need to calculate the relative values of currencies to know a wide discrepancy existed between the 400 peso salary of an enlisted man and two pesos for a year’s worth of corn for two adults and a child or 7.5 pesos for half a year’s wheat crop.

Tafoya probably sold most of his livestock in Chihuahua where he received currency la plata. However, his balance sheet in 1718 indicated he did make strategic loans of a bull to a priest, Lucas de Arevalo, and an ox to "an Indian of Picuris, by the name of Trujillo." He had lent horses to Francisco, a war captain at Taos, and to "Juan Estevan de Apodaca, a soldier of this garrison."

Apart from work animals critical to people’s survival, Tafoya had more direct dealings with members of his extended family. He paid Tomás García for two cows that then were lent to Bartolomé Sánchez. He lent "another cow" to García. Sánchez was the "retired Ensign of this garrison" who had been caught stealing cattle with him in 1696. The other may have been Tomás García de Noriega, the stepson of his brother Antonio’s wife. The soldier had married the widow of Cristóbal de Cuéllar in 1705.

He left no indication what he expected in return for his loans, only that he expected to have the animals returned.

Notes: The cattle theft was discussed in the post for 2 February 2015. The value of a fanega was mentioned in the post for 11 March 2015.

Chávez, Angélico. Origins of New Mexico Families, 1992 revised edition.

Cutter, Charles R. The Legal Culture of Northern New Spain, 1700-1810, 1995.

Rivera Villalón, Pedro de. Proyecto (inspection report), 1728, in Thomas H. Naylor and Charles W. Polzer, Pedro de Rivera and the Military Regulations for Northern New Spain, 1724-1729, 1988.

Tafoya, Cristobal. Will, 1718, republished by Henrietta Martinez Christmas, "Cristobal Tafoya - 1718 Will," 1598 New Mexico website, 7 July 2014.