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SA's treasury officials recorded accounts payable once a week
Source: The King?s Coffer #83
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At the weekly treasury council, bills were presented. The treasury officials examined the authorization for each purchase, along with the affidavit verifying the price as normal, the bill of lading, and the factor’s or steward’s receipt for goods delivered. If everything was in order the bill was entered into the book of libranzas (drafts), which was a sort of accounts payable. Each entry carried full details of date, vendor, items, quantity, price, and delivery, as well as the signed certifications of royal officials and the governor. Such entries had great juridical value. A libranza, which was acceptable legal tender, was no more than the notarized copy of an entry. Sanchez-Bella maintains that the libranza, or drafts on the royal treasury, were the primary cause of friction between governors and royal officials in the Indies. [Note 45: Royal officials 3/6/1580] The governor of Florida had been ordered to make withdrawals in conjunction with the officials of the treasury, but many executives found this too restricting. When Governor Mendez de Canzo ordered payments against the officials’ advice he did not want their objections recorded; Governor Trevino Guillamas told them flatly that it was his business to distribute the situado, not theirs; Governor Horruytiner presented them with drafts made out for them to sign. [Note 46: Bartolome de Arguelles 2/20/1600; Gov. Trevino Guillamas 1/27/1617; Francisco Menendez Marquez and Nicolas Ponce de Leon 1/5/1634] The officials were not as helpless as they liked to sound. The governor endorsed the libranzas, but they had the keys to the coffer. [Note 47: Gov. Marques Cabrera to the royal officials 2/20/1687, in report on Espiritu Santo Bay 2/28/1687; Gov. Marques Cabrera to royal officials 5/30/1684, with comment by the fiscal of the Council on 8/23/1686] (Bushnell KC)
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