The Puerto Rico of the 1830's was one of the two remaining jewels in the Spanish Imperial Crown in America. The tenor of its insular way had not been unaffected by the revolutions that in a half century had brought about the political separation of the Old World and the New. The Reformismo Ilustrado of the Bourbons which was begun in the previous century had left its mark on the island; and if insularity had more than literal connotations when applied to Puerto Rico, it was nevertheless true that increased trade with the United States was creating an economic bond foreshadowing the political absorption of 1898.