Tutino conceived this study in dialogue with global and Atlantic history, and he developed it with tools, categories, and arguments from fiscal and economic history, as well as the history of political culture, social history, and even prosopography. He examines not only the functioning of the Hispanic monarchy and the crisis that led to its collapse but also the articulation of world capitalism and the construction of nation-states and liberal regimes. Tutino chooses the juncture of 1808 in Mexico City to analyze the transformations of global markets and their foundations in the so-called age of revolutions. Therefore, the intention of the study is to link the explanations of “silver capitalism” and the “pivotal importance of New Spain’s silver”—regarding both Spain and the global trades—with the emergence of modern politics and its diverse notions and articulations of popular sovereignty.
The book proposes to understand the Spanish monarchy in America as a...