19th-Century Spanish Politics: Moderate and Progressive Eras
The Moderate Decade (1844-1854)
General Narváez dominated this period, weakening the Progressive Party. The 1845 Constitution reflected conservative principles, excluding progressives and bolstering the monarch’s power while omitting citizen rights, which were to be defined by subsequent laws.
Key Features of the 1845 Constitution:
- Representation: Two chambers—Congress (elected) and Senate (appointed by the King).
- Suffrage: Census suffrage, around 100,000 voters.
- Executive: King and ministers, answerable to the Cortes.
- Judiciary: Judges held a monopoly on law enforcement.
- King’s Role: Involved in lawmaking, summoning, and dissolving the Cortes.
- State Subdivisions: Centralized, with governors appointing provincial and municipal officials.
- Military: National Militia’s power reduced with the creation of the Civil Guard.
- Church-State: Catholicism remained the official religion.
- Education: Free and widespread.
Laws and Reforms:
- 1844: Creation of the Civil Guard to maintain rural order and protect landowners’ property.
- 1845: Provincial Planning and direct taxes on land and industrial property (unsuccessful due to fraud). Unified consumption taxes improved tax collection and the economy. Development of criminal and civil codes began.
- 1851: Concordat with the Holy See resolved disputes over confiscated church lands, ensuring state support for the Church and its return to education.
Reasons for the Moderate Era’s End:
Queen Isabella II’s unpopular marriage, her controversial personal life, the 1848 European liberal revolutions, and corruption scandals involving public works, military promotions, and real estate weakened the government.
The Two Progressive Years (1854-1856)
Progressive uprisings, supported by the masses, led to General O’Donnell’s failed revolt. General Serrano’s “Manifesto of Manzanares” gained wider support, leading to uprisings in several cities. Queen Isabella II made a pact with the progressives, appointing Espartero as prime minister. The new government took measures against the Church, including banning public religious displays and expelling the Jesuits.
The “Non-nata” Constitution of 1856:
This progressive constitution, which never came into effect, granted extensive citizen rights.
- Representation: Elected Congress and Senate.
- Executive: King and ministers, answerable to the Cortes.
- Judiciary: State monopoly on law enforcement through judges.
- King’s Role: Involved in lawmaking, summoning, and dissolving Parliament.
- State Subdivisions: Centralized, with elected local officials.
- Military: Return of the National Militia.
- Church-State: Freedom of worship.
- Education: Centralized.
Other Laws and Events:
- 1855: Madoz confiscation of unsold church property and municipal common lands. Railway law and banking reforms. Economic prosperity due to the Crimean War.
The government’s tolerance of worker and peasant protests led to pressure from moderates and the Church, resulting in O’Donnell replacing Espartero. New political trends emerged: the Liberal Union (O’Donnell) and the more radical Democratic Party (Progressive splinter group).
The Liberal-Conservative Decade (1856-1868)
Narváez’s government reversed Biennium reforms, halting the Madoz secularization and returning property to the Church. The Civil Guard suppressed peasant and worker protests. O’Donnell’s Liberal Union government (1858-1863) oversaw economic prosperity due to good harvests, trade expansion, and the American Civil War. Spain engaged in an active foreign policy, including interventions in Cochinchina, Morocco, Santo Domingo, and Mexico. Narváez’s return to power in 1864 brought authoritarian policies. Student protests and uprisings were suppressed. In 1866, opposition forces united in the “Pact of Ostend” to end Bourbon rule.