Spaniards in the Colonial Empire: Creoles vs. Peninsulars? introduces students to the relationships between Spaniards born in the Americas and those born in Spain. Creoles, those born in the Americas, believed that their families sacrifices made them especially qualified to fill administrative positions in the new territories; however, Iberian-born Spaniards frequently filled these posts. Directly addressing the Americans complaint of discrimination in appointments to offices of church and state, the book examines why holding these positions was so important to creoles from the sixteenth century to independence. Spaniards in the Colonial Empire argues that patriot leaders in the wars of independence in the early nineteenth century quickly identified peninsulars as the enemy and shattered colonial elites long comprised of Spaniards born in both the Old World and the New.