Reference no: EM134020932

Assignment:

However, the financial crisis did promote the consumption of goods produced in New Spain by its growing population. Fitting Into Society Colonial society was stratified by race and wealth, although these were not hard and fast distinctions. Three main groups were whites (European- and American-born), castas (people of Indigenous and European heritage), and Native peoples. Each caste, or group, had specific rights and responsibilities in colonial society. Membership in the upper classes was limited to mainland-born whites or those born in Spain, known as peninsulares. Criollos, American-born white people, tended to marry peninsulares for upward social mobility. The lower classes were a mixture of poor white people, castas and Native peoples, although Indigenous groups could not own property. Poor white people and mestizos often competed with Indigenous people for the same jobs. In a society divided by race and privilege, the only unifying force was the Roman Catholic Church. The clergy, or religious leadership, provided education and social services to the rich and the destitute alike. Clergy also functioned as a buffer or mediator in social conflicts, such as labor disputes. Read the paragraph from the section "System Of Assimilation."