1789-Apr.-14: The Spanish Crown issued a cédula intended to reform the administration of justice and the treatment of enslaved people in the Americas.

1789-Apr.-14: The Spanish Crown issued a cédula intended to reform the administration of justice and the treatment of enslaved people in the Americas. This decree sought to standardize the “paternalistic” obligations of masters, including provisions for religious instruction and limits on physical punishment. However, the legislation was met with immediate and fierce opposition from the planter elites in Havana and Caracas, who viewed it as a threat to their absolute authority. The controversy surrounding this cédula became a primary channel for discussing the rights of slaves in the Spanish Atlantic. Its failure to be enforced highlighted the power of colonial interests over metropolitan reform.