Isabel II Reign & 19th Century Spain: Politics & Reform

Posted on Dec 9, 2024 in History

The Reign of Queen Isabel II

The Regencies (1833-1843)

The Regency of Maria Cristina (1833-1840)

The Moderate Governments (1833-1835): The Royal Charter

• Top of the Regency: Transition phase (October 1833 to January 1834). Head of Government: Cea Bermúdez (absolutist reforms, exclusively administrative or technical). Dissatisfaction with the Liberals.
• January 1834: Cea Bermúdez replaced by Martinez de la Rosa (a moderate man from Cadiz and the Triennium, arrived from exile).

The Staff seemed insufficient for the progressives. A definitive split between moderate and progressive liberalism occurred. Coupled with the inefficiency of government reform and Martinez de la Rosa, Toreno sparked the revolution of 1835, starring the urban bourgeoisie (riots, burning of convents, burning of the Bonaplata factory, etc.). The ruling dismissed Toreno and appointed Alvarez Mendizabal.

The Progressive Governments (1835-1843)

Alvarez Mendizabal, a liberal progressive, spent a long time in exile in England, where he excelled as a financier. With the arrival of Alvarez Mendizabal, the bourgeois revolution in Spain began.

To stabilize the finances and funds available to carry out the confiscation of war, 1836 (the first large confiscation of the history of Spain).

Secularization of Alvarez Mendizabal

Decrees of February 16 and 19 and March 8, 1836: Convents and religious communities were abolished, except those engaged in teaching and nursing. Their assets were awarded to the State and sold at auction to pay the public debt.

Alvarez Mendizabal’s aim was threefold:

• Improved political and military situation of the liberal side.
• Caused a radical reaction of the church (excommunication). Church Conflict – Status (Inquisition and alienation).
• Did not improve the social or economic situation. The lands were purchased by the rich (nobles or bourgeois). A missed opportunity for land reform that the Spanish countryside required.

The Revolt of La Granja

In 1836, the regent separated Mendizabal and delivered power to the moderates. Progressivism embarked on the path of conspiracy that culminated in the mutiny of La Granja, summer 1836, which required the mayor to reinstate the progressives (Calatrava government, Mendizabal in Finance) and restore the 1812 Constitution.

They undertook progressive efforts to reform the 1812 Constitution to suit the new requirements. The result was a new Constitution (1837).

The Constitution of 1837 and the Normal Laws

Transition between moderates and progressives.

The 1837 Constitution is a genuine constitution. It recognized that national sovereignty was expressed in Courts, and these could make laws.

Courts were divided into two chambers:

• Congress, elected by census suffrage. This was regulated by the Electoral Act (it developed a new electoral law that expanded the number of electors).
• Senate, appointed by the king from lists proposed by the voters.

The king had the authority to convene and dissolve the chamber and had veto power.

The ministers were responsible for the cameras.

Extensive rights and freedoms, more systematized than in Cadiz.

Restoration of the National Militia.

In parallel with political reforms, intended to implement the liberal regime in Spain, there was a law of social-economic content, which aimed to end the Ancien Régime and replace it with an appropriate framework for the development of the capitalist economy: laws on estates and primogeniture (the land becomes private property).

The Political Evolution: The Alternation

Liberals lost power in elections on October 1837, giving way to moderate governments until 1840: reform of the electoral law in a restrictive sense, cessation of reforms, especially the sale of disentailed goods.

During these years there was:

• Decanting of the war in favor of liberals.
• Confrontation between Las Cortes (dominated by moderates) and the municipalities controlled by the progressives (democratic councils: all the neighbors voted).

The end of the war brought a resurgence of the battle between moderates and progressives. The army became the arbiter of the political situation, and Espartero became the most influential man in the country.

In the summer of 1840, the Law of Municipalities was approved (election of mayors by the Crown and restricted suffrage). Revolt of the municipality of Madrid and the National Militia. Espartero presented a program of government that the ruling would not accept. Maria Cristina renounced the regency, but not the guardianship of Elizabeth, and went into exile.

Espartero’s Regency (1841-1843)

Progressive. Short and unsuccessful regency. Causes:

1. Espartero’s personalistic and authoritarian mood. Political folly.
2. Continuous conspiracies organized by the moderates and the former mayor. Harshly repressed.
3. Free trade faced industrialists and workers. Barcelona uprising that ended with the bombing of the city and harsh repression. Following the events of Barcelona, Espartero lost all support.
4. Division of progressives among the defenders of the census suffrage (progressives) and supporters of universal suffrage.

Events in Barcelona: grand coalition against Espartero.

Summer of 1843 led to a moderate military conspiracy (Narvaez, O’Donnell). Espartero went into exile in England.

The Reign of Isabel II (1843-1868)

To prevent a new regency on November 8, 1843, the coming of age of the queen (13) was proclaimed. Collaboration between moderates and progressives.

Moderate Decade (1844-1854)

Moderate governments. Strongman: Narvaez. Relative political stability. Settlement of the conservative liberal regime in Spain.

This process was carried out through three pillars:

Constitution of 1845

• Shared Sovereignty (doctrinaire)
• Bicameral system:
• Senate appointed by the king for life and unlimited in number.

The king had the authority to convene and dissolve the chamber and had veto power.

Abolition of the National Militia and democratic governance of municipalities.

Creation of a Centralized and Conservative State Apparatus

Preoccupation with order: creation of the Civil Guard. Development of the Penal Code.

Concordat of 1851

Close the conflict with the Church. Concordat of 1851: The Church accepted the sale of disentailed goods in exchange for the return of unsold goods, a grant to the clergy’s ability to own property, and the return of control of education.

In 1848, a wave of revolution occurred in Spain, as in Europe, due to the economic crisis (although there were also political motivations), harshly repressed by Narvaez.

Moderate governments that had the support of the crown showed a negative trend during the decade, becoming increasingly corrupt (railway).

Progressive Biennium (1854-1856)

The biennium began with the revolution of 1854, a coup that succeeded through the support of a group of popular. Sublevación military moderates (July 1854) led by O’Donnell (Vicalvarada): the rebels issued a manifesto (Manifesto of Manzanares) written by Canovas del Castillo, which gathered some of the points raised by the progressives.

The queen called Espartero to share power with O’Donnell from 1854 to 1856: Two Progressive.

Reasons:

• Espartero’s political blunder.
• Confrontation between O’Donnell and Espartero.
• Opposition to the queen and her entourage.
• Social conflict.

The Constitution of 1856

Inspired by progressive principles. Never entered into force: National sovereignty. Bicameral system. National Militia. Extension of the franchise and liberties.

The Economic Legislation

The most important of the biennium. Work of progressive finance minister Pascual Madoz:

• Secularization of 1855 applied to the assets of the clergy and especially the municipalities.
• Railways Act 1855: final impetus to railway construction in Spain. Very favorable conditions for the builders:
• Interest on investments guaranteed by the government.

The railway became the main area of speculation.

The governments of the biennium benefited from the continuing opposition of the queen and her entourage. This, together with the dissensions between Espartero and O’Donnell and continued social unrest, constituted the causes of failure of the triennium.

Espartero resigned in 1856, and the Queen ordered the government to O’Donnell. An attempted popular revolt in defense of Espartero, starring the National Militia and the workers, was harshly repressed by the army led by Serrano.

The End of the Reign (1856-1868)

Stage dominated by the figures of Narvaez and O’Donnell. These years are usually divided into two stages: from 1856 to 1863 and the final crisis of the reign from 1863 to 1868.

The Stage 1856-1863

After the events of July 1856, O’Donnell was in charge of the government: the Constitution of 1856 was abolished, which was never enacted, and restored in 1845, adding an Additional Act liberalizing the electoral mechanism, removing and freezing the National Militia sale of church property while retaining the sale of goods belonging to the municipalities.

In October 1856, Queen Narvaez was replenished as president to restore the 1845 Constitution of the record devoid of O’Donnell, and the government exercised in the same way as before 1854.

In 1858, O’Donnell returned to the government: government over the Liberal Union (1858-1863). Few changes from the previous stage. Features:

1. Economic Prosperity
2. Stability
3. External projection assumed great.

The Final Crisis of the Reign (1863-1868)

Governments of O’Donnell and Narvaez until the death of both. During these years, there was the decomposition of the Elizabethan regime, leading to its end in 1868.

1. Closure of the system, which became a de facto dictatorship. Manipulation of the elections. The progressive withdrawal practice (non-participation in elections).
2. An increasingly harder antidynastic movement appeared insofar as the crown appeared linked to more reactionary maneuvers and higher episodes of corruption.
3. Strong economic crisis starting in 1864 to 1868:
4. Public finance crisis.
5. Social unrest resulting from the economic crisis. The ruin of the estate for not taking action and the only response being repression (massacre of students in the evening of St. Daniel) exacerbated the problems, and the antidynastic movement grew.

In 1866, military and civilian uprisings occurred, sponsored by progressives:

Prim Uprising (January), despite the failure, became a great alternative to the regime lifted Barracks Sergeants S. Gil (60 dead and 66 shot), uprisings in Girona and other cities. All were severely repressed by O’Donnell, Narvaez, and Serrano.

In August 1866, progressives, Democrats, and Republicans signed the Pact of Ostend: dethroning the Queen and calling for a Cortes elected by universal suffrage. In 1867, after the death of O’Donnell, the Liberal Union joined the pact. The Queen only had the support of her clique and the Church.