1789-Oct.: Approximately 200 copies of the new royal ordinance reached the Indies late in October 1789, triggering an immediate and unanimous outcry from sla…

1789-Oct.: Approximately 200 copies of the new royal ordinance reached the Indies late in October 1789, triggering an immediate and unanimous outcry from slaveowners. Planters and merchants in cities like Havana and Santo Domingo fiercely resisted the publication of the document, fearing it would incite rebellion. Local officials in several territories, under pressure from the creole elite, actively delayed or suppressed the formal announcement of the new rules. Despite these efforts at secrecy, rumors about the royal dispensations favoring the enslaved population spread quickly through the streets. The arrival of the code initiated a period of intense anxiety as owners and the unfree struggled over the interpretation of the king’s will.