Caste System Of The Caste System

After the Spanish conquests, they developed the Caste System. This organized people and divided them into two categories, white and Indian. Based on this classification, the Spanish held the power and the Indians were their subjects. However, interracial marriages and the introduction of African Americans began to complicate and deteriorate the Caste System. By the eighteenth century, the original system of hierarchy was dissolving with the mulattos, pardos, and blacks all striving for social mobility. The easiest way to gain mobility within Spanish society was becoming white. Therefore, the lower class struggled to gain mobility to achieve whiteness for over a century. The goals of slaves, free blacks, pardos, and mulattos were all the same but differed in how to obtain them. For blacks to increase their social mobility they first had to be free; during the eighteenth century, there was a variety of ways to increase their chances. Different way slaves ended their bondage were by getting married to a free individual, receive freedom after a certain period or purchase freedom. To keep slaves motivated …show more content…

During the 1620’s and 1630’s the cast began to push for public office jobs and local acceptance. The easiest way to decrease the sense of inferiority based on occupation was through militia service. Joining the militia did not require skilled labor, and often entailed little effort, it also showed willingness to help the crown and loyalty towards the country. Consequently, numerous pardos and mulattos joined to show favor with the crown. The cast did not stop with low-level white jobs; they petitioned to practice skilled occupations typically associated with whiteness. Beginning in the 1760’s, a small number of the cast “had applied for exemptions to practice prohibited occupations.” A few of these occupations included surgeons and