John Preston Moore, The Cabildo in Peru under the Bourbons (Durham: Duke University Press, 1966). Garfield Jones, "Local Government in the Spanish Colonies as Provided by the Recopilación de Leyes de los Reynos de las Indias," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 19 (July 1915).
Mattie Alice Austin, "The Municipal Government of San Fernando de Bexar," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 8 (April 1905). Haring, The Spanish Empire in America (New York: Oxford University Press, 1947 2d ed., New York: Harcourt, 1963). Charles Gibson, Spain in America (New York: Harper and Row, 1966). Blackman, Spanish Institutions of the Southwest (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1891 rpt., Glorieta, New Mexico: Rio Grande Press, 1976). Barker, "The Government of Austin's Colony, 1821–1831," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 21 (January 1918). By incorporating these minor changes, the ayuntamiento continued to function as a viable institution until the Texas Revolution.Įugene C. The constitution that unified Coahuila and Texas as a state merely formalized office-holding requirements by setting standards for age, residency, and literacy. Spanish law had allowed any settlement of more than ten married men the right to a local council, and this right continued under Mexico. The number of ayuntamientos increased in Mexican Texas as the number of colonists grew.
Mexican independence did not fundamentally change local government. In 1820 San Antonio altered its ayuntamiento to conform, as did Goliad.
The writers of the constitution relied on municipal governments to appoint deputies to the congress, and municipalities throughout New Spain restructured their councils as a result. The new document also officially made the colonies of Spain part of the empire and thus entitled them to representation in the Spanish congress, the Cortes. The 1812 Constitution of Cádiz called for popular election to the ayuntamientos and thus ended lifetime appointments to the bodies. Thus the ayuntamiento served as a mediating institution between local and central authorities. In turn, the ayuntamiento often represented the interests of town citizens to the royal authority. One of its primary functions, in fact, was to relay the orders of officials in Spain or Mexico to the local populace. Though the powers of the ayuntamiento seemed wide, the body operated within the limits imposed by a higher authority, whether viceroy or governor. The ayuntamiento managed police and security matters, hospitals, health measures such as the inspection of food markets and the removal of stagnant ponds, public roads, weights and measures, taxation, and agriculture. Spanish colonists in America commonly referred to the ayuntamiento as the cabildo, though this term first meant the building in which the council met. Although elected officials did exist, by the late colonial period many ayuntamientos had to resort to forced service, for often few men of consequence volunteered to serve. Many offices were inherited, and others were sold by the crown or their current holders. Often it received little voluntary support from the people it represented. The ayuntamiento was in most cases not a democratic institution. Other local administrators-police chiefs and fine collectors, for instance-sometimes held positions in the council, though often these additional members were not allowed to vote. The council members consisted of the alcalde, who served as president, a varying number of regidors ( see REGIDOR) or councilmen, and a síndico procurador, the equivalent of a city attorney. Its size varied and was generally based on the population of the town. It functioned as the town council and had a wide range of administrative duties. The ayuntamiento was the principal governing body of Spanish municipalities.
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