This is a research work carried out by Javier Barrientos Grandon, Professor of History of Law in Chile, in which he presents a stage in the History of the Spanish Monarchy in one of its American viceroyalties during the reign of Charles IV, when the ideas of the French Revolution, which had undermined the foundations of the Ancien Régime, and the presence in America of the emerging democracy of the United States, heralded great geostrategic transformations on that continent. The book looks at a provincial government that was still enlightened when in Europe the new ideas were spreading throughout the continent, foreshadowing, or already witnessing, new political scenarios.
The book is dedicated to the man who was Field Marshal and Governor of Montevideo, Governor and Captain General of Charcas and President of its Royal Audience, Governor and Captain General of Chile and President of its Royal Audience and VIII Viceroy of the Provinces of the River Plate: Don Joaquín del Pino y Sánchez de Rozas.
Among the governors of Hispanic America in the 18th century, he occupies a place of honour for his exemplary administrative career. For thirty-six years he held important posts in the government of the Indies, all of them marked by his love for Spain, his loyalty to the Crown and his personal honesty. Professor Barrientos received, for this research, the Virrey del Pino Prize awarded by the National Academy of History of the Argentine Republic.
