FEATURING
Two Novellas, Run Away and Who Knows?, by S-A R Soms
Economic Growth in Colonial Mexico by Carlos Ponzio,
Mining in Colonial Ecuador by Kris Lane,
Five Stories by Vic Sceare,
To Rule Oneself by Richard L. Garner,
Bullion Outflows by Richard L. Garner

---

This page includes published and unpublished works (pdf files) by me and others. For a full listing of my works available as pdfs go to: www.historydatadesk.com.

Economic Growth in Colonial Mexico
Carlos A. Ponzio

"Essays on the History of Economic Growth in Mexico," (PhD, Harvard University, 2004). Click here.

Mining in Colonial Ecuador
Kris E. Lane, Wakefield Distinguished Professor of History, William & Mary College

Chapter 3, "Production and Flows of Precious Metals in the Audiencia of Quito," from Mining the Margins: Precious Metal Extraction and Forced Labor Regimes in the Audienca of Quito, 1534-1821, Volume 1 (PhD, University of Minnesota, 1996). Click here.

Gold Production, Colonial Quito

Stories

By Vic Sceare, an old friend, from a collection, Gathering Up, that never quite made it.
Click Hex.
Click Is It Over?
Click Gym Misfortunes.
Click A Book Is A Shelf or Not.
Click On Track, Off Track.

To Rule Oneself in America Before Civil War
Richard L. Garner

Access to a Working Paper on "TO RULE ONESELF: Concept of Self-Government and the Rise of Individualism in Pre-Civil-War America". A pdf file of about 120 pages with footnotes. All rights reserved to the author.

Click here.

My theme is that during the eighteenth century Americans, first as colonists and later during the Revolution and the Confederacy, engaged in discussions and debates about who should rule and whether individuals who inherited the right of self government should be stingy or generous with regard to the transfer of sovereignty. It was one thing to speculate about the transfer of sovereignty, but it was another thing, harder by any standard, to try to figure out how to effect the transfer. That debate began with the Articles of Confederation and intensified with drafting, ratifying and interpreting the Constitution. By Washington's Second administration whatever consensus had existed during his First had dissolved. The political leadership was actively engaged in organizing political parties that reflected opposing views about how to define self government in America. When the Jeffersonians came to power in 1800 Americans seemed to side with stingy rather than generous, although historians have long disagreed over how much of a change the triumph of the Jeffersonians represented. When a quarter century later Alexis de Tocqueville minted the word individualisme, he was trying to describe a society that depended less on institutions and more on individuals to manage its affairs. He injected a word into the American vocabulary that resonated then and still resonates now. It may have had some unintended consequences, namely the failure to address the issue of slavery.

The downloadable file has reached the War of 1812. Please be aware that the file as it now appears is subject to revision at a later date. In the Header of the file I have indicated the date that the file was uploaded.

Run Away and Who Knows?

Two of three novellas by S-A R Soms, reprinted with permission.

Click here for Run Away

Click here for Who Knows?

Bullion Outflows, Spanish America to Far East
Richard L. Garner

"Where Did All the Silver Go? Bullion Outflows 1570-1650: A Review of the Numbers and the Absence of Numbers"

Between discovery and independence Latin American produced around 150,000 tons of gold and silver. That was far more than could ever be spent in the New World. Between 80 and 90 percent of the mineral output was exported. Most of it was exported to Europe and from there to various places including the Far East. Direct trade between the Far East (through the Philippines) and Spanish America began in the middle of the 16th Century, and grew as the output of the mines in Zacatecas (Mexico), Potosí (Bolivia) and other camps increased during the second half of the 16th Century and the first half of the 17th Century. Recently some scholars have ramped up the bullion outflows in response to heavy demand for silver, mainly in China, and also to strong demand for Oriental goods in the Spanish colonies. The official recorded outflows, they have argued, were flawed statistics because of a robust contraband trade that existed along side of the mandated fleet trade. In this essay I examine the statistical and non-statistical sources to try to determine how much validity should be assigned to the much elevated recent estimates. I have used the official records to create a baseline from the Philippines to the Spanish colonies and of bullion from Acapulco to Manila within the context of a cyclical mining sector and a vacillating royal policy. I have assembled and analyzed some new datasets based on the research of Engel Sluiter, John TePaske, etc., and I have tried to weigh these results against the projections of merchandise imports and bullion exports by Dennis Flynn. Although the portrait remains unfinished, it appears to have an ebb and flow that is somewhat different from past as well as current estimates.

For the essay, click here.

For the actual datasets, go to www.historydatadesk.com and click on Pubs.

Photographs of 17th Gold and Silver Coins from Spanish America