19th Century Spain: Constitution, Liberals, and Restoration
Unit 1: The 1812 Constitution
The principal aim of the new constitution was the prevention of arbitrary and corrupt royal rule. It provided for a limited monarchy which governed through ministers subject to parliamentary control. Suffrage favored the position of the commercial class. The constitution set up a rational and efficient centralized administrative system. The 1812 Constitution established the principles of universal suffrage, national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy, freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise.
Unit 2: Spanish Liberals
The Division of Liberals
The Liberals of this period were divided into two sides:
- Moderate: Sovereignty shared between Parliament and the monarch (the monarch has the executive power and the right to veto). Setting up the parliament with two chambers: upper and lower chamber. Census suffrage. Principles: Centralism, public order, private property. Religion: Confessional, Catholic. Social support: Aristocracy and middle-class.
- Progressive: National sovereignty (parliament). The monarch has to obey whatever the parliament decides. One Chamber. Wide census suffrage, almost universal. Freedom of press, meeting and association/organisation. Non-confessional. Secular state (lay). Low bourgeoisie and other commoners, low status military.
Moderates were really next to absolutism and this is where Maria Cristina felt comfortable.
Pronunciamiento: Military Coup d’état
Military coup d’état in Spain followed a special pattern. It is called “Pronunciamiento”. The first step is a public declaration where the military complain and ask for a change in government. Then the rebels wait for the rest of the armed forces to declare for or against.
Originally most military’s ideology was progressive but they became more conservatives with time. Anyway the preeminence of the military in Spanish politics was clear: General Espartero was progressive, while General Narvaez was moderate…
The Restoration Period
From 1843 Isabella II made the Liberal Conservatives (moderates) to be in power (except the two year progressive 1854-56). During the Revolutionary Six Years there were new parties; Democrats, republicans… In this period another two constitutions were proclaimed: 1869 and 1873 Liberal and Republican. During this period Spanish old chronic political instability continued; the Revolutionary Six Year; the overthrown of the Bourbons; the short-lived liberal monarchy of Amadeo I or the democratic attempts of the I Republic.
The Republic could have been the time to solve the Spanish problems, but the wealthy groups feared disorders, so they finished with it and they established another reactionary political system; the Restoration. The new era was also known as “Canovas System”; it was a corrupted and unfair. It carried on the traditional backwardness and injustice of Spanish society, losing the opportunity for change for another half a century.
In the 19th century the Bases of a Liberal State were established, finishing definitively with Absolutism and changing the economy, the society and the culture of the time. But if we compare the steps taken in Europe, we realize that in Spain modernization was very slow. Spain was a very unequal country where a majority of peasants lived under the oppression of a small elite.