How Did Colonial Laws Affect Colonial Latin America

I chose this prompt because it best highlights the idea of how Colonial Latin America had a problem with the disregard for law among the citizens. In particular, lawlessness played a large role in Colonial Latin America. As a result of the small population of Iberians in Latin America, the rule over people in Colonial Latin America proved to be arduous for the Iberians. These limits were depicted in the gap between the colonial laws and reality throughout Colonial Latin America. The gap can be broken down into two categories. The first category is the resistance to social ideals. This was especially common among slave owners disregarding laws and by natives preserving their past culture. The second category is the exploitation of the laws

Groups adapted to this new Iberian culture and used it to defend their own self interests. Native nobles in particular used their power as the cabildo in order to create laws that protected their own interests. One example where native nobles created laws to protect themselves was with the sale over noble land. As Iberians began to integrate into their new lands, nobles found it difficult to maintain their lands and were forced to sell it to the Spanish. The nobles wrote in their declaration, “ Lordly houses are going… to ruin. Therefore… the cabildo orders that none of the Tlaxcalans nobles sell his (or her fields)...” (Mesoamerican Voices, 103) By making it illegal to sell their land, nobles protected their high status within society while also making it difficult for the Spaniards to buy land since the only source were the nobles. The limits of domination are even more emphasized as nobles took advantage of the the judicial system which contributes to the large gap between colonial laws and reality. If more Iberians populated Colonial Latin America, the nobles cannot dominate the cabildo and exploit the law making system?(judicial?). Adapting to their new culture allowed the nobles to not only protect themselves but also impede the colonials by cutting off the source of

The Tlaxcala cabildo impeded on colonials again by limiting the planting of cochineal cacti. As a result of conquest, the market for cochineal flourished causing the nobles to lose their profits as everyone now planted cochineal. The cabildo wrote, “Everyone does nothing but take care of cochineal cactus… when discussion was completed, everyone approved keeping ten plantings of cactus.” (Mesoamerican Voices, p. 133) The increase in the market of cochineal only hindered the profits of the nobles as everyone rushed to plant the cactus. Because this is a document from the cabildo, there may be a hidden agenda. One might be that the nobles exaggerated the problems caused by the cochineal which allowed them to create a limit on the planting of cochineal. By doing so, the cabildo again decreased the colonial’s source of dye. The gap between colonial laws and reality further increases as the cabildo takes advantage of colonials laws in order to protect their interests. This again could have been prevented if the population of Iberians was more abundant in the Colonial Latin