The first part of this chapter reviews the social, demographic, institutional, and economic characteristics of Chuquisaca in the late colonial period. It shows the role of royal and corporate government institutions like the audiencia of Charcas and the town council (cabildo), as well as educational institutions like the University of Charcas and the Academia Carolina. It addresses then an intense cycle of strife precipitated by appointment of new peninsular ministers in the audiencia of Charcas in the late 1770s. It shows how this measure reinforced the sense of political subordination and marginalization among the creole elites. Besides this ideological repercussion, two issues took center stage: the jurisdictional competences of the city council and its ceremonial privileges. The new royal ministers sought to strengthen their authority over the municipal body by curtailing their traditional political and symbolic prerogatives and aggressively interfering in the appointment of their officials. These policies ushered in a series of political practices that resulted in open challenges to their decrees, public questioning of their governing principles, and politically charged demonstrations of protest, such as the resignation of council positions. The chapter focuses on the manifold expressions of collective opposition between 1777 and 1780.