Abstract

MARCHIONNI, Marcelo Daniel. Access of elates to the local political power and their permanence in it: The cabildo of Salta at the end of the colonial period. Cuad. Fac. Humanid. Cienc. Soc., Univ. Nac. Jujuy [online]. 2000, n.13, pp.283-306. ISSN 1668-8104.

In this paper we analyze the changes undergone by the composition of the elite in Salta from last decades of the XVIIIth century in relation with the new situation the city had within the Andean-meridional region. The incorporation of merchants into the society of Salta affected the Cabildo as regards the political power, since the access to the capitular office allowed them to enter a sort of ''race'' towards the top of society where social status, wealth and political, military and clerical posts were combined. Even when then merchants had nearly monopolized the composition of the Cabildo in the last years of the colony, they could not remove completely the members of the landowner families that had already put down roots in the elite. On the other hand, they frequently incorporated into those families by means of advantageous marriages. These traditional families, however, also deployed certain strategies to keep control over the matters the Cabildo was concerned with. The political life in the city council was far from being quiet due to the conflicting interests when the Intendencia was established. From then on, the alliances between some neighbours and the real authorities became more complex in opposition to other groups that struggled steadily to defend the power the Cabildo had had before the Bourbon reforms, designed to reinforce the metropolitan power and the power of the authorities in charge of putting into practice especially the fiscal policies.

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