Historians have long debated the relationship between the Spanish Crown and its colonial subjects. The issue has taken on an additional dimension as our knowledge of the lives of women expands. Recently published works describe the statutes promulgated by royal authorities to regulate the institution of marriage. But what was the actual result of these laws once they crossed the Atlantic Ocean? Were they followed to the letter, partially enforced, or ignored? Did they apply to some groups and not to others? In order to answer these and other questions it seemed appropriate to focus upon the laws governing marriage and the effect of their implementation on a specific group of women—the wives of regular army officers who served in Venezuela during the last half of the eighteenth century.

During the period from Mexican independence in 1821 to the end of the French intervention in 1867, Mexico's primary tie to the outside world was based on trade. The foreign merchants, who monopolized this activity, played a crucial role in the economic, diplomatic, and political life of Mexico. The current literature on these nineteenth century merchants includes studies of foreign groups, such as the French, detailed case studies of individual entrepreneurs, firms and merchant families, and one work that provides a unique state-centered perspective on the Mexican/merchant nexus. None, however, have tried to conceptualize the role of foreign merchants as a whole, across national lines and individual rivalries, in the port cities that were the central arena of contact and conflict with the outside world.

Despite the considerable scholarly attention given contemporary interest groups (also known as pressure groups), there are few studies of their governmental influence and operations in a premodern setting. Such studies could tell us much, not only about the historical roots of interest groups, but about governmental processes in premodern nations. Brazil in the nineteenth century is a good subject for such research. With its economy largely based on varied agricultural and raw material export, it was also the scene of incipient industrialization. Under a constitutional monarchy, it had modified representative government, and basic political rights were respected. Nineteenth-century Brazilian interest groups, in addition to illustrating the characteristics of pre-modern interest organizations, strongly influenced governmental decision-making and public opinion and foreshadowed the activities of the much more numerous and varied groups of the twentieth century.

Ella impulsó a su hermano a la pelea,
ella siguió a sus hijos al combate…
En medio de la noche, su silueta
se destacó en el campo funerario de la
batalla, pues buscaba, inquieta
el cuerpo de su amor entre el osario.

E igual que con su esposo compartiera
el tálamo nupcial en la morada,
con su esposo cayó, fiel compañera, en el lecho mortal de la jornada.

She encouraged her brother to fight
she followed her children into combat…
In middle of the night, her silhouette
stood out in the funeral battlefield
for she was restlessly searching for
the body of her love in the burial grounds.

And just as she had shared the nuptial bed
with her husband in the shelter of their home,
with her husband, she fell, faithful companion,
on the death bed of the day's journey.

From “La mujer paraguaya,” written in 1899 by a Paraguayan poet, Ignacio A. Pane.