1789-May-31: Charles IV issued a landmark royal decree concerning the education, treatment, and occupation of slaves across the Spanish Indies.

1789-May-31: Charles IV issued a landmark royal decree concerning the education, treatment, and occupation of slaves across the Spanish Indies. Designed to make slavery compatible with “public tranquillity,” the code established a system of reciprocal obligations between masters and the enslaved. The decree mandated religious instruction, restricted strenuous labor for women and the young, and limited corporal punishment to twenty-five lashes. Crucially, it provided for city attorneys to investigate reports of overwork or bad treatment to protect the rights of the enslaved. Despite being framed as a protective measure, the document exposed deep racial and class tensions that would soon destabilize the colonies.