Divinely Favored to Humanly Selected: Marriage Choice in Córdoba, Argentina 1776–1853

This paper will focus on race relations in Córdoba, Argentina during the transition of the colonial to national period 1776-1853. In order to do so it will focus on marriages within the black community. A review of marriages will provide a complex understanding of the individuals who married, their familial background, and what it meant in the colonial period 1776-1810 and how it changed in the national period 1810-1853. Through the use of church and state records the study of marriage amongst blacks will also examine “jurisdictional politics” as this sacred sacrament became secularized during the national period. More specifically it will follow this transition by way of marriage dissent cases involving blacks as either plaintiffs, defendants or both.           

Such an analysis will provide an integral look into how the state became involved in private affairs, as family disputes could no longer be classified as family business, and had to be resolved in an open forum for all to hear. Marriage dissent cases demonstrated that both sides were challenged as parents wished to maintain their bestowed divine right which meant taking care of their children and thus guiding them to make good decisions that would benefit the family; and young couples who wanted to select their future partner based upon their individual wants and as a result test new definitions of freedom.