[1] Manrique's predecessor as New Mexico Governor, Joaquín del Real Alencaster, made himself unpopular by raising taxes and suppressing the smuggling of contraband.
One source says that in 1808 Manrique started to raise a militia company in Santa Fe, which he said was for local defense.
Later that year Alencaster was removed from office, and don Alberto Maynez was made the interim Governor.
[3] Manrique continued Maynez's policy of letting the New Mexico colonists embark on large-scale expeditions to trade with the Plains Indians.
[6] In March 1810 a New Mexican patrol caught a small group of traders from the United States in the north of the territory, and took them to Santa Fe.