The Superindentency of the Royal Treasure of Buenos Aires: creation, conflicts and dissolution, 1782-1788

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to analyze the formation and development of the Army and
Provincial Intendencies in the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata at the end of the 18th
century and in particular the Superintendencies of Buenos Aires between 1782, the year
of its creation, until its dissolution in 1788. The objetive is to study the nets of political
power and the similarities between the Superintendent, the royal authorities and
socio-political guilds such as the landowners. This political and fiscal reorganization of
the entire Monarchy was an attemp by the Crown and its ministers to concentrate
political power and achieve greater and more efficient monetary income. In America,
specifically in the Río de la Plata, the overlapping of political and administrative
funcions between its royal servants generated a series of disputes and conflicts that led
to the suppression of the Superintendency and the reclaim of fiscal Powers by the
Viceroy.