# BoricuaReceipts Source Packet - Mas esclavos, mas tierra

Date: 2026-08-26
Public archive status: promoted to site inventory after the YouTube Short went live.
YouTube Short: https://youtube.com/shorts/awYTVnHntio
Source continuity: this live follow-up uses the existing `Cédula 1815 tierra y poder` source packet.

## Public Title

`Más esclavos, más tierra`

## Source-Safe Thesis

The Real Cédula de Gracias of 1815 was not only an immigration or family-origin document. EnciclopediaPR summarizes that new white colonists received four fanegas and two sevenths of land, plus half a fanega for each enslaved Black or pardo person introduced. Free Black and pardo settlers received half of what white settlers received. The safe public frame is that land, race/status, enslaved labor, loyalty, and colonial control were connected in the incentive structure.

## Primary Source Stack

### 1. EnciclopediaPR / Humanidades Puerto Rico - Real Cédula de Gracias (1815)

URL: https://enciclopediapr.org/content/real-cedula-de-gracia-1815/

Usable claims:

- The Cédula was promulgated under King Fernando VII on August 10, 1815.
- Its full name tied population, commerce, industry, and agriculture in Puerto Rico.
- It sought population growth and commercial agriculture for export.
- New white colonists received four fanegas and two sevenths of land.
- They received additional land tied to each enslaved Black or pardo person introduced.
- Free Black and pardo settlers received half of what white settlers received.
- EnciclopediaPR notes some historians connect the law to `blanqueamiento`; keep that attributed.

### 2. Library of Congress source lead

URL: https://www.loc.gov/item/86172967/

Use as an official item lead for the 1815 decree record. Do not rely on it as the only proof unless the page/document is clipped.

## Guardrails

- Do not present the Cédula as neutral immigration/family history only.
- Do not say every immigrant received land. Keep claims tied to qualifying colonists/settlers as summarized.
- Do not say free Black and pardo settlers received no land. The receipt is unequal allotment, not zero allotment.
- Do not use `blanqueamiento` as an unqualified claim; attribute it to historians summarized by EnciclopediaPR.
- Use careful wording: `persona esclavizada`, `negros y pardos libres`, `colonos blancos`.

## Related Local Packet

- `sources/cedula-1815-tierra-poder.md`