Debts and Loans: The Crisis of Public Credit in New Spain during the Independence War (1810-1821)

Abstract

The work reconstructs the definitions and characterizations employed by the ministers of the Treasury offices to deal with the public debt; also estimated its amount and composition from a specific institutional space, the General Treasury of New Spain, as long as it was the main office of fiscal administration. Finally, the paper explores the theme of debt service, assuming that interest payment and compliance in the repayment of capital are appropriate criteria for the periodization of the financial health of the Novohispano Treasury during the critic decade of 1810s.