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For almost four centuries, Spain governed over its American territories with little or no interference. Ultimately, internal rebellion throughout Spanish America, no doubt inspired by revolutions in England's North American colonies and in France, led to the oeverthrown of Spanish colonial rule.
The Crown issued a number of decrees to govern its new lands, but met resistance from its subjects in the Americas. In a Letter from Lope de Aguirre to King Philip of Spain, 1561, one rebel blamed the King for the diminishing quality of life in the colonies.
By the late seventeenth century, the Crown began to consolidate its grasp over its American colonies. The Recopilacion de Leyes de Indias, Ch. 22, 1681 reveals how the Crown re-established royal authority over the universities in the Western Hemisphere, taking control from the Catholic Church.
By the mid-eighteenth century, life in the major American cities reflected the class attitudes of native-born Spaniards towards their American-born cousins ("criollos"), mixed-race "mestizos," and indigenous peoples. The observations of Juan and Ulloa on Colonial Lima, 1748, for example, demonstrates these attitudes.
Neverthless, the Spaniards and Americans built grand cities, often blending European architectural motifs with indigenous styles. The Colonial Cities of Mexico, for example, reveal the mixture of influences.
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