Early issues of bonds

Deuda flotante

Along with other Mexican states Sonora constantly needed funds to maintain its finances, and invariably turned to contributions from wealthy merchants or hacendados. Authorities levied taxes on businesses and ‘requested’ special loans from their owners. The state kept a running account of the unpaid balance owed to hacendados and merchants under the heading deuda flotante (floating debt).

In 1854 the United States consul in Guaymas Juan Robinson, the owner of a large import-export house, reported that he had ‘lent’ more than 18,000 dollars to the state government¹. Robinson and others never actually anticipated repayment, although they did expect special treatment when requesting trade concessions or the acquisition of land from local officials.

Whether any of the documents that the state issued as a consequence as these ‘loans’ could be considered paper currency is a moot point. For example, we know of one certificado (numbered 128) of the Gefatura de Hacienda de Sonora issued on 15 June 1875 in Guaymas, for a short-term voluntary loan (prestamos voluntarios de pronto reintegal) of $4,500 from Messrs. Sandoval y Büller to be repaid out of the revenues of the Hermosillo and Alamos mints but it is not obvious whether the document was negotiable².

Amortisation of the copper coinage

Again, like certain other states, Sonora had to amortize its copper coinage in the 1860s. It suspended minting in February 1863 and on 19 May established a commission under the title Banco de Amortización de la Moneda de Cobre which was to use a quarter of the receipts of the Guaymas customs for its purpose. This was found to be insufficient, and so on 19 June 1867 Governor Ignacio Pesqueira levied a forced loan of 45,000 pesos on the leading citizens of the state³, Sonora priding itself on the fact that whilst other states had to seek federal aid to amortise their coinage it was able to resolve the problem without outside assistance. The various lenders were given as receipts certificados issued by the Jefatura de Hacienda: one such certificado for $1,100 had not been repaid by 1899 and on 3 November of that year the holder was given government bonds for the same amount⁴.