Real Cédula de Gracia
The Real Cédula de Gracia (royal pardon) of 1815 is a legal document with which the Spanish government wanted to encourage its compatriots and later other Europeans to settle in the colonies of Cuba and Puerto Rico .
history
On August 10, 1815, King Ferdinand VII of Spain granted the Real Cédula de Gracia , which allowed Cuba and Puerto Rico to trade with countries close to Spain, and free land and special privileges to Spaniards willing to settle in these areas granted. The economic development of Puerto Rico stagnated until 1830, when immigrants from the Spanish provinces of Catalonia , Mallorca and Canary Islands arrived and gradually built plantations for sugar cane, coffee and tobacco.
Spain had previously issued other ordinances, such as the pardon decree of September 8, 1777 for Venezuela or the pardon decree of 1789, which allowed subjects to purchase slaves and participate in the flourishing slave trade in the Caribbean .
Situation in the Spanish colonies
At the beginning of the 19th century, the Spanish colonies in the New World fought against Spanish rule under the leadership of Simón Bolívar and José de San Martín . In 1859 the Spanish Empire had lost all of its colonies on the American continent except for Cuba and Puerto Rico. The two remaining areas, however, required greater autonomy and were marked by movements for independence. Faced with the risk of losing the last two colonies, the Spanish crown renewed the Real Cédula de Gracia of 1815, this time printed in three languages (Spanish, English and French) to attract more Europeans, believed to be with the arrival new settlers could lose popularity and strength of the independence movement. The new residents were offered free land, provided they swore their loyalty to the Spanish crown and the Roman Catholic Church .
Situation in Europe
There were many economic and political changes in Europe in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The second industrial revolution caused many farm workers to give up their jobs in agriculture and look for better paid jobs in the larger cities. The remaining farmers suffered the aftermath of widespread crop failures resulting from long droughts and diseases such as cholera and late blight , which caused the great famine in Ireland . Hunger was omnipresent in Europe.
From 1848 onwards, Europe also experienced a series of revolutionary movements that began in Sicily , continued with the February Revolution in France and the March Revolution in the German Confederation , and finally to the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
These conditions led to a massive emigration of Europeans to the American continent. Hundreds of Corsicans , Italians , French, Irish and Germans moved to Cuba and Puerto Rico, thereby accepting the Spanish conditions. After they swore their loyalty, they received a "letter of domicile". After five years they were declared Spanish subjects by a "letter of naturalization". To attract non-Catholic Europeans, the Spanish courts passed a law in 1870 that allowed all people to freely practice their respective religions. The decree also allowed slave labor to revive agriculture. The new agricultural strata that now immigrated from other European countries made extensive use of slave labor and cruelty was the order of the day.
aftermath
The settlers who took advantage of the Real Cédula de Gracia soon adapted to the language and customs of their new homeland and married local people. Many of them became well-known personalities in business and politics.
The pardon was in force until 1898 when Spain finally lost its last two possessions in the New World to the United States as a result of the Spanish-American War .
The original document from 1815 is currently held in the General Archives of Puerto Rico at the Institute for Puerto Rican Culture in the capital, San Juan .