Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez and the Ideas of the Enlightenment

Abstract

The 18th century marked the beginning of new and for some, shocking ideas known as the Enlightenment. The European philosophers suggested the equality of mankind through education and self-knowledge. Young Bernardo de Gálvez, who had begun life as a shepherd boy in a tiny town in Southern Spain, embodied the ideas of the Enlightenment as he rose to become a general who defeated the British during the American Revolution, and eventually ascended to Viceroy of New Spain. As Viceroy he lived his beliefs by saving the Mexican people from starvation and becoming a friend to the poor. His actions cost him the support of many of the elite who feared his Enlightenment ideas.