Bourbon Restoration and Democratic Sexenio in Spain

Posted on Dec 8, 2024 in History

The Bourbon Restoration (1874-1931)

A) The Political System of the Restoration (1874-1902)

1. Objectives:

  • Restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy: Historical legitimacy, Canovas del Castillo (Manifesto of Sandhurst).
  • Political, economic, and social development: End of the Carlist War (1876) and the war in Cuba (1878); end of citizen mobilization.
  • Liberal parliamentary system (without universal suffrage): Political system shared by all sectors of the bourgeoisie, end of military intervention in politics, exclusion of the lower classes from political life.

2. Bases of the Political System of the Restoration:

  • The Constitution of 1876 (until 1923): Shared sovereignty (Cortes/King), bicameral Cortes, confessional state with religious tolerance in the private sphere, census suffrage, Bill of Rights.
  • Turn of Parties (peaceful alternation in power):
    • Parties:
    • Liberal-Conservative Party (Canovas del Castillo): Party of former moderate unionists, progressives. Base: Landowners and industrial and financial bourgeoisie. Ideology: Political immobility, defending the church and social order.
    • Liberal Fusion Party (Sagasta): Former progressives, unionists, moderate Republicans. Social Base: Professional people, senior officials. Ideology: Progressive and secular reformism. In favor of universal suffrage.
  • The Alternation: Pact of El Pardo (1885) (alternation system that continued until the First World War). Inversion of the electoral system:
    1. Political party in government wears out.
    2. The monarch calls on the opposition party leader to form a government.
    3. Calls for an election to secure a parliamentary majority, electoral fraud.
    4. Success is ensured.
  • Electoral Fraud: Involvement of the Crown (decided on the change of government), electoral distortion (manipulating the elections).
  • Caciquismo:
    • A) Definition: The relationship of dependency and social-economic policy between an individual or family—a chief—and the rest of society (manor survival). Its economic or political influences were most evident in rural areas. (Landlord, pharmacist, civil guard). They made reports, certifications, complicated paperwork, gave jobs, etc. Strong presence in rural areas. Made possible by high illiteracy. “Exchanging votes for favors.”
    • B) Operation of Caciquismo: The Crown decided on a change of government. Minister of the Interior: Develop lists of candidates (boxed in). Civil Governors: Process the list of ministerial candidates. Local Chiefs: They put the means to execute the warrants in charge of rigging (vote buying, intimidation, etc.).
    • C) Impact: High voter turnout (80%), the population does not feel represented, i.e., the inaccessibility of the opposition.

3. Functioning of the System:

Shifts in Governance:

  • Conservative governments (1875-1881): They carried out the end of the Carlist War (1876) and the end of the war in Cuba (1878).
  • Liberal government (1881-1890): Abolition of Slavery (1888), Law on Associations (1887), and emergence of universal suffrage (1890).

Opposition Forces:

  • Carlists: After the defeat, exile in France and conspiracies. Split in 1888 (Traditionalist Party).
  • Republicans: Ideology survives (anti-clericalism, faith in progress, etc.) in casinos, universities, etc. Political division until 1893 (Republican Union). Loss of social bases for the workers’ parties.
  • Nationalism (Catalonia, Basque Country, Galicia): Reaction against the political and administrative centralization of liberalism and against an official Castilianized culture (marginalizing other languages and cultures). Catalanism (political and cultural movement).

8. The Democratic Sexenio (1868-1874)

In 1868, the revolution known as The Glorious, starring all the forces opposed to Elizabeth II, expelled the Bourbons from the throne of Spain and opened the possibility of forming a new political system based on ideological principles of democratic liberalism and the interests of the Spanish middle classes. The new regime set up under the Constitution of 1869 sought the enthronement of a new dynasty of the House of Savoy. This failed, and it promoted the First Spanish Republic. It also allowed freedom of association and assembly, allowing the development and organization of the labor movement.

8.1. The Glorious Revolution:

In the context of social trouble caused by poor harvests and economic difficulties of industry and finance, and dissatisfaction of almost all political groups and the government of Isabel II, in September 1868, there was an attempt to change by force the foundations of the system that benefited only the moderates and the wealthier classes. United under the banner of Down with the Bourbons and Spain with Honor, the revolution of 1868 began.

The triumph of the revolution led Elizabeth to leave Spain and formed a provisional government where there were unionists, progressives, and moderates headed by Serrano, and it also had the support of Democrats. The new government launched several political and economic reforms.

It also called constituent courts elected by universal male suffrage with the aim of defining the political and governing model that was set in Spain. The elections gave a huge victory to supporters of the monarchy. Spain would thus be a democratic monarchy. These courts produced a new constitution promulgated in 1869 and inspired by the principles of democratic liberalism.

8.2. The Constitution of 1869:

The key features that this constitution had were:

  • National sovereignty (popular).
  • Clear division of powers.
  • The crown has executive power but with the control of the courts.
  • Legislative power is in the courts.
  • Primacy of legislative power.
  • Freely elected bicameral Cortes.
  • The judiciary is in court.
  • Universal male suffrage.
  • Wide catalog of personal freedoms and rights.

8.3. The Democratic Monarchy of Amadeo I:

It extends from 1871 to 1873. Amadeo accepted the crown of Spain and swore to the constitution on January 2, 1870. Essentially military-trained, he was unaware of the Spanish language. He had little support in Spain because he was not wanted by the aristocracy, who saw him as a foreigner, nor by the Church for adopting depreciation, nor by the people in general, nor by the political parties (Carlists, Alfonsinos). In his reign, there was great political instability, which was one of the most characteristic features, and he faced several problems:

  1. Difficulties in government: The government coalition (unionists, progressives, and Democrats) had broken down, and there were tensions between the different ideals, still further aggravated by the death of Prim. In fact, Amadeo I lived through a continuous parliamentary blockade and was very isolated.
  2. War in Cuba: Started in 1868, where criticism of the Spanish political and economic domination was mixed with desires for independence.
  3. Third Carlist War: Started in 1872 and ended in 1876.
  4. Republican opposition tried by all means to divide the monarchist parties and make it impossible to reign and gain popular support in order to proclaim the Republic.

Faced with all these difficulties and without the possibility of forming a strong government, Amadeo abdicated on February 2, 1873.

After the abdication of Amadeo, Congress and the Senate united together to form a National Assembly that, in the absence of alternatives and despite being mostly monarchical, proclaimed the First Republic on February 11, 1873. The Monarchy in Spain seemed finally dead, as expressed by Emilio Castelar: “With Fernando VII died the traditional monarchy, with the escape of Elizabeth II died the constitutional monarchy, and with the renunciation of Amadeo, the democratic monarchy. Nobody, nobody has killed her. She has died on her own.”