The Royal American Order of Isabel la Catlica thus came to represent an odd mix of enlightened meritocracy and conservative social values. Although the constitution explicitly stated that the order would be open to any subject and that the beneficiaries did not need to prove nobility, it nevertheless maintained a system of rank to ensure that individual distinctions awarded to blacks, mestizos, and castas in general did not upset the social hierarchy of the Spanish domains. The new Order of Isabel la Catlica thus - somewhat paradoxically - simultaneously incorporated the new ideal of individual merit and reinforced the social and racial hierarchies of the Spanish colonial system in the Americas.