Liberalism During the Reign of Elizabeth II of Spain
ITEM 1: LIBERALISM IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH II
1. THE MINORITY OF ELIZABETH II
Upon the death of Fernando VII in 1833, Maria Cristina assumed the Regency because Elizabeth II was only three years old. A Carlist uprising ensued, causing a civil war that lasted nearly seven years. During this period, Maria Cristina’s moderate absolutism gradually gave way to moderate and progressive liberalism.
a) The Carlist War
When Ferdinand VII died, several uprisings occurred, led by Don Carlos. These Carlist supporters, however, lacked the backing of the army and the Church hierarchy. Carlism’s influence was primarily limited to specific geographic areas and social groups, such as smallholder farmers in the Basque Country, northern Aragon, Catalonia, and the Maestrazgo region. These groups championed traditionalism, emphasizing the concepts of God, Fatherland, King, and Charters.
Suárez Verdaguer argues that Carlism aimed to limit the king’s absolute power by revitalizing regional self-governance and representative bodies. However, Artola believes that this objective only emerged after the war began and was primarily used to appease the Basques during times of hardship.
The Carlists employed guerrilla warfare tactics. As the war progressed, internal disagreements among Carlist supporters became apparent, preventing them from establishing a government apparatus in any major city. Initially, the Carlist army was well-organized under General Zumalacárregui, but his death was a significant setback. Other important military leaders, like Cabrera, emerged, but ultimately, the Carlist army could not withstand the liberal forces. Under the command of Generals Espartero and Luchana, the liberals achieved victory in 1836. The war concluded with the Convention of Vergara (1839), which saw the Carlist army surrender to the Queen. However, the Carlist movement would resurface in later periods.
b) The Transition from Ancien Régime to Liberalism
Parallel to the civil war, the Bourbon monarchy transitioned from moderate absolutism to progressive liberalism. Initially, Queen Maria Cristina recognized the need to attract liberals to secure her daughter’s throne against the Carlists, but she believed this could be achieved with minimal concessions. However, the absolutist ideology of her chief minister, Cea Bermúdez, failed to satisfy the liberals, who advocated for the convening of the Cortes to initiate reforms, starting with a new territorial division into provinces.
Under pressure from military and political figures, the Regent appointed Martínez de la Rosa as chief minister. A moderate liberal who had participated in the Cortes of Cadiz, Martínez de la Rosa was tasked with drafting a constitutional regime. The Royal Statute (1834), introduced by Martínez de la Rosa and the Regent, established an extremely moderate political system that proved insufficient for the liberals.
The Royal Statute was neither a constitution nor a granted charter. It called for a bicameral parliament consisting of the Estate of Próceres (Nobles) and the Estate of Procuradores (Attorneys). The Próceres comprised individuals with significant wealth, titles, or church leadership positions. The Procuradores, numbering 180, were to be elected based on population and income requirements. The electoral system, clarified in May by decree, instituted indirect elections, granting voting rights to only 0.15% of the population. Freedoms of the press and association were severely limited.
Divisions soon emerged within the Cortes between reformists and revolutionaries. The reformists, later known as moderates, primarily consisted of moderate and doceañista realists who believed in a balance between traditionalism and rationalism, thus supporting the Statute. The revolutionaries, later known as progressives, included some doceañista constitutionalists and exalted liberals who desired a constitution that would curtail the Crown’s powers compared to the Statute. Coexistence between these factions proved impossible.
The Statute had reduced parliament’s initiative to the right to petition, reserving the power to introduce bills entirely to the Crown through the government. The system’s viability depended on the existence of two distinct factions, with one refraining from exercising its right or the other responding to petitions with bills. However, this did not occur. In this context, the practice of the vote of censure emerged.
The ineffectiveness of the reformist Martínez de la Rosa and his successor, Count Toreno, led to a revolutionary movement of the urban bourgeoisie in the summer of 1835.
c) The Revolutionary Wave of 1835
In the summer of 1835, a revolutionary movement of the urban bourgeoisie erupted against the moderates represented by the Royal Statute. In some cities, juntas emerged, demanding the reconvening of the Cortes – which had been closed by Martínez de la Rosa before his resignation – reform of the electoral law, and freedom of the press. These political demands were overshadowed by the actions of the masses, which included the burning of convents – accused of supporting the Carlists – and the Bonaplata factory in Barcelona.
d) Progressives in Power
To quell the revolution, the government handed power to Juan Álvarez Mendizábal, a prominent exalted liberal who had been exiled in England, where he had pursued a financial career. After gaining control and dissolving the juntas, the progressives, led by Mendizábal, assumed power. Mendizábal held the portfolios of State, Treasury, War, and Navy, and the senior administration and government positions were filled with men from the Liberal Triennium. It was a continuation of the 1823 period. However, neither the Cortes nor Mendizábal made any institutional changes, so after his fall, the Regent once again handed power to the moderates.
This provoked a reaction from the progressives, who, taking advantage of the rebellion of the palace guard at La Granja, demanded that Maria Cristina promulgate the 1812 Constitution. This constitution was revised and became the 1837 Constitution, establishing a bicameral Cortes (Congress and Senate). Calatrava took over the government and appointed Mendizábal as Minister of Finance. Mendizábal focused on resolving financial problems by suppressing religious orders and selling their lands, and reorganizing the army with 100,000 Isabelline soldiers (due to Carlist military superiority). The progressives’ success with the promulgation of the 1837 Constitution led to General Espartero becoming prime minister. Espartero had gained immense prestige through his victories over the Carlists, but his disagreements with the Queen’s wife were constant, to the point that Maria Cristina handed over the Regency, but not the guardianship of her daughter, to him in March 1840.
e) The Regency of Espartero
With General Espartero as Regent, progressivism would only remain in power for three years, facing challenges such as constant violent opposition from the moderates (many of whom were in the army), internal dissent within the government, and Espartero’s lack of political skills. The situation became untenable for Espartero and the progressives in November 1842 when, before signing a commercial treaty with England – which, due to its free trade nature, could harm the Catalan textile industry – an uprising of the bourgeoisie and workers broke out in Barcelona, hitherto a bastion of progressivism.
The drastic measures taken to suppress the riot – the bombing of Barcelona – contributed to a general sentiment against the progressive government. In May 1843, a general uprising erupted, giving victory to the moderates, led by another general, Narváez. According to Artola, it would have been an entirely radical movement, but in order to channel it into the juntas that gave rise to the generals, they redirected it in a moderate direction. To prevent Espartero’s appointment as a third Regent, he had gone to London, bringing forward the Queen’s majority at the end of 1843.
2. POLITICAL GROUPS AND THE ROLE OF THE ARMY
So far, we have seen the development of political events during the minority of Isabel II, spanning over ten years of Spanish history. Let’s examine how the liberal system was structured in Spain during her reign.
a) The Liberal System: Moderates and Progressives
Having abandoned absolutist political legality due to the Regent’s need to seek support from the liberals, the political system they advocated became attainable. Based on my studies of the liberal movement since the Cortes of Cadiz, I can deduce the following key points of the system: national sovereignty embodied in a constitution granted by the Cortes, whose members should be elected by ballot.
The influence of French liberalism was evident in the characteristics of uniformity and centralization that 19th-century Spanish liberals adopted as focal points of their power system, continuing the centralization introduced in the 18th century by the Bourbons in institutions (administrative, educational, judicial). However, this framework would be developed and interpreted differently by the two sectors of liberalism, known as conservatism and progressivism.
· The Moderates
The moderates supported a doctrinaire liberalism based on the joint possession of national sovereignty by the Crown and the Cortes. Accordingly, the Crown would hold a moderating power, allowing it to intervene in disputes between the legislative power (vested in the Cortes) and the executive power (the Council of Ministers), ultimately deciding on the dissolution of parliament or the replacement of the prime minister.
Regarding voting rights, the moderates always advocated for a census-based system, so that only a select few – those with financial means – could participate in the political process. Understandably, the monarchy always aligned itself with this line of moderate liberalism, which granted it significant powers. The moderates defended private property as a sacred and inviolable principle, along with public order, centralism, and understanding with the Church. They rejected revolution as a means of political action.
Their social base consisted of the middle classes enriched by confiscations, the landowning aristocracy, and the industrial, commercial, or financial bourgeoisie, often linked to the railroads. Career officials, lawyers who handled the affairs of aristocratic landowners, and senior military officers also tended to join the moderate ranks. In the words of Raymond Carr, they were the oligarchs of liberalism. It was certainly a much more consistent party from a strategic standpoint.
· The Progressives
The progressives held a more radical position, believing that national sovereignty resided exclusively in the hands of the Cortes, whose members should be elected through broader suffrage. They did not accept the Crown’s moderating power, although they acknowledged the king’s right to dissolve the Cortes. In contrast to the moderates, they argued for greater freedom of the press.
In 1849, a more extreme group of progressives formed the Democratic Party, which advocated for universal suffrage and the granting of broad freedoms (press, assembly, association, religion). Their social base comprised sub-bourgeois social sectors that were not proletarianized: small merchants, artisans, craftsmen, employees, and low-ranking soldiers. According to Raymond Carr, they were mostly drawn from those urban middle-class sectors that relied on government jobs for their livelihood, making the aspiration for a government position an honorable profession.
In short, it was a much more heterogeneous party in social terms, which led them to attempt to artificially create class interests through legislation. More numerous than the Moderate Party and less versed in the abstract principles of political theory, they were always ready to join any revolutionary movement against the established powers, criticizing the government’s immorality and the preponderance of the clergy, and advocating for the elimination of taxes on basic necessities.
Since the Crown supported the moderates, it was evident that it would be very difficult for the progressives to come to power through elections. The government controlled the electoral system to ensure it never lost, so the progressives could only gain power through uprisings or pronouncements. On many occasions, they used abstention as a form of mass protest to boycott the system that excluded them. However, as Artola notes, the distinction between moderates and progressives was limited to the number of participants – voters – in the political system and the conditions that regulated it, primarily those related to freedom of the press and the influence of the power system on the political system.
b) The Role of the Military
The military’s role in the development of the Spanish political process throughout much of the 19th century is undeniable, as evidenced by the fact that many prominent figures in Spanish politics from 1820 to 1874, from Riego to Serrano, came from its ranks. This process arguably began when many generals, lacking central government funding, resorted to pressuring civil authorities to supply their troops.
However, supplying one general often meant being unable to supply another, leading to political animosity between them, which culminated in their violent involvement in national politics from 1837 onwards. But we do not find a single party line among them. On the contrary, while Spanish politics was led by a progressive general, Espartero, another general, this one moderate, became the leader of the opposition. And when Narváez rose to power, it was the figure of another progressive general, Prim, who emerged as a prominent opponent.
3. THE MODERATES IN POWER
a) The Constitution of 1845
The Constitution promulgated on May 23, 1845, was presented as a simple reform of the previous one and retained the same titles, but its political meaning was considerably different, and it has always been considered a distinct Constitution. The aim of this Constitution was to shape the political system in a solely moderate direction, guaranteeing the exercise of power by the party and ensuring the social and political dominance of the oligarchy, eliminating the alternatives that had existed in previous years. The Constitution of 1845 imposed the ideology, institutions, and order of the moderates.
The opinion of the drafting commission, led by Donoso Cortés, is very explicit in this regard: “Society cannot be well ruled and governed when the people are governed and ruled by popular corporations.” The Constitution set out the basic ideas of conservatism: the rejection of national sovereignty and its replacement by the joint sovereignty of the king and the Cortes, the denial of the distinction between constituent power and constituted power, and the adaptation of the political system to the dominant social classes. This would lead, as we shall see, to the constitutional hegemony of the monarch and the political leadership of the state by a small, social and political oligarchy.
The first part of the Constitution contained a bill of rights similar to that of 1837, with some modifications and a fundamental difference. This was that most of the rights were subject to subsequent legislative regulation, which severely limited them. On the other hand, some rights were restricted, especially in religious matters, which solemnly proclaimed the confessional state.
The most important political reform was the increase in the king’s power, both by expanding his capacity and by restricting the autonomy of the Cortes, especially through the new type of Senate. The king’s powers were much broader than in the previous Constitution, eliminating the limitations it imposed and establishing that the monarch could leave the territory and marry. This issue was important for maneuvering in the case of a minor, as it was not established by parliament but corresponded to the next of kin.
Another lever of royal power lay in the changes to the semi-elective legislative chambers. In contrast to the previous Senate, the Constitution established an upper chamber appointed by the king from among the highest categories of the administration, the army, the Church, and individuals who had held political positions, all of whom possessed significant wealth. In effect, it was a Senate dominated by the aristocracy. But the Congress was also modified in a conservative direction: the term of its members was extended, and, more importantly, the electorate was restricted by the law of March 18, 1846 – reducing the number of voters to one per 100 inhabitants and implementing the electoral district as the unit that elected a reduced number of deputies (compared to the provincial election, as advocated by the liberals), which facilitated control by the bosses and the authorities.
In the rest of the Constitution, the judiciary was mentioned, and guarantees of the independence of the courts were limited, abolishing the National Militia and trial by jury, and referring the regulation of municipal and provincial councils to a subsequent law. To the above must be added the prerogative of the Crown over other institutions: the power to freely appoint and dismiss ministers. The Queen systematically appointed the head of government according to her political preferences, simultaneously issuing the decree dissolving parliament. The system was the opposite of the parliamentary system: instead of appointing the leader of the majority in the Cortes as prime minister, the Queen appointed her favorite character at each moment, and this person dissolved the Cortes if they were not satisfied, creating new ones that were loyal to them.
In reality, this power resided with the king in all monarchies and already existed in the previous Constitution. With Maria Cristina and Espartero, there had been negative aspects such as the lack of consistency in the parties, the narrowness of the electorate, and frequent electoral corruption, but in the moderate decade, it reached its greatest degeneration due to the total lack of political freedoms that in previous periods had provided some restraint.
b) Elections and Political Power
On the other hand, elections were a mere formality, extremely restricted and based on census suffrage. Of the estimated 15 million people living in Spain in the mid-19th century, only 157,000 had the right to vote, just over 1% of the population. When the tax requirement was lowered in 1865, the number of eligible voters reached 418,000, or 2.67% of the population.
If we add to this the existence of strong government control over elections and low voter turnout, it is easy to understand the limited participation of the country in the political game and the inability of the progressives to achieve power except through uprisings. The government’s power was further strengthened as a result of the European revolutions of 1848, as the only influence in Spain was to lead Narváez to transform his government into a veritable dictatorship.
c) The Work of the Moderate Regime
1. The Concordat of 1851
An important aspect of the moderates was their relationship with the Church, which was reflected in the Concordat of 1851, which remained in force, with slight variations, until 1931. The Concordat established Catholicism as the sole religion of the Spanish nation and reached an agreement on the confiscations that had caused the rupture with the Holy See. The Church accepted the completed sales, and the state agreed to subsidize the clergy. It also regulated their respective powers and jurisdictions and carried out an administrative adjustment of the Church. Ultimately, the outcome of the situation established by the Concordat was the existence of a passive church in Spain, protected by the state.
2. The System of Liberties
Making order compatible with freedom was one of the great doctrinal concerns of the moderates. They faced major problems, such as freedom of the press, one of the great battlegrounds between moderates and progressives. Even though a liberal system presupposes freedom of expression, the moderates significantly restricted it, and there was more or less covert censorship, which is often blamed for the literary and cultural poverty of Romantic Spain.
3. Administrative Centralization
Regarding the administrative organization of Spain, the liberal system was eminently centralized. In this sense, the liberal governments continued the centralizing work begun by the Bourbons in the 18th century, seeing only benefits in the administrative rationalization that came from centralization. Following this line, they introduced a series of reforms, the first of which was the division of the territory into 49 provinces in 1833, based to some extent on the French departmental system. Each province was governed by a governor appointed by the king, who was also the political head of the provincial council and the council of the capital.
4. Local Administration
Government control over local administration was implemented by the law of 1845, which stipulated that mayors in provincial capitals and municipalities with more than 2,000 inhabitants should be appointed by the Crown. In smaller towns, they would be appointed by the governor. Mayors had administrative functions (public works, education, fairs, and markets) and political functions (security and public order). In the same year, 1845, Minister Mon carried out a reform of the Treasury by eliminating local taxes.
5. The Civil Guard
To maintain public order, the Narváez government created an armed body with a military organization but with civilian functions. Its purpose was to promote good order, public safety, and the protection of persons and property both inside and outside towns. Thus, in 1844, the Civil Guard was born, and no government post was without its presence.
4. OPPOSITION TO THE MODERATE REGIME: DEMOCRATS, SOCIALISTS, REPUBLICANS, AND CARLISTS
The moderates held sway during the reign of Elizabeth II, except for the two years of progressive government. The progressives were the most powerful force in opposition to the moderate regime, but the electoral system gave them no chance of achieving power. This led to the radicalization of the left wing of the party, from which emerged the Progressive-Democratic Party (later the Democratic Party), whose theoretical program set out the principles of freedom of conscience, expression, assembly, and association. They also believed that national sovereignty should be reflected in universal suffrage, that the Cortes should be unicameral, that municipalities should be formed through elections, and that trials should be decided by juries. For the first time, there was talk of state intervention in social relations.
However, this party initially had a weak social base, made up of a growing number of workers and the urban working classes, as well as largely disgruntled young officers with little chance of promotion. Similarly, the intelligentsia formed the core of the Democratic Party. These early Democrats respected not only the monarchical form but also the Crown’s power to summon, suspend, and dissolve the Cortes, and to appoint and dismiss public officials. However, the Republic would become the form of government that would gain the most sympathy among Democrats. The question of the form of government eventually led to a split within the Democratic ranks.
The core of the Republican Party, or the more radical faction of the Democratic Party, would become an independent party, the Republican Party. The social base that republicanism sought to organize and represent initially consisted of small bourgeois merchants, artisans, small landowners, and peasants, as well as employees in traditional industries and services and the new factory workers. However, the connections of certain sectors of the bourgeoisie, especially large merchants and bankers, with the leadership of the republican movement were very clear on many occasions.
Its basic objectives were not to destroy the regime established by the dynastic parties but to strengthen it through a new form of government, expanding the social base that supported it and addressing a number of pending tasks of the bourgeois revolution, which meant correcting the actions taken by Spanish capitalism. However, we will study early Spanish republicanism in a later chapter.
More radical than the Democratic Party and the early Republicans, but not widespread, socialism made its appearance through the press, with the publication in 1846 of the first socialist newspaper in Spain. This new ideology will be explored in a later topic.
On the opposite wing of the opposition were the Carlists, who took up arms again unsuccessfully in 1848 and 1860. Within the moderate camp, there were also ideological differences, leading some to seek agreement with the less radical progressives. This would occur in 1854, under the leadership of General O’Donnell, with the formation of the party known as the Liberal Union, which brought together moderates and progressives around some basic ideas to enable the functioning of a true constitutional regime that dominated Spanish politics for a year and a half.
5. THE PROGRESSIVE BIENNIUM
In 1854, the moderate regime reached an impasse, due to internal corruption (among other things, the improper expropriations carried out for the construction of the railway) and the Bravo Murillo government’s attempt to further restrict the liberal system. This trend was maintained by successive governments, with the support of the Crown, causing a clash between the Cortes and the government, leading to a pronouncement in Vicálvaro (hence the name Vicalvarada) by several moderate generals.
The situation remained very uncertain until the rebels issued the Manifesto of Manzanares, which, based on a moderate ideology, incorporated some progressive demands: the convening of the Cortes, reform of the electoral and press laws. There was then a broad mobilization of progressives, with popular uprisings in Madrid, Barcelona, Zaragoza, and San Sebastián. In Barcelona, in particular, the movement took on a strong social dimension due to the scarcity of work.
The Queen handed power to Espartero, who shared it with O’Donnell, leading to a progressive government that would only last two years. Thus began a process of regime change, and elections were called for a Constituent Cortes. It was at this point that the Liberal Union emerged. Following the example of the moderates in 1844, they began preparing a new Constitution. In short, the political work of the Biennium was reduced to the enactment of a new confiscation, that of 1855, of civil and ecclesiastical property, and the maintenance of an unstable situation due to the labor movement in 1856, which produced strikes and riots in Barcelona and Valladolid, while the bourgeoisie demanded the maintenance of order.
Finally, the progressive regime led to the dissolution of parliament and the resignation of Espartero. Although the militia offered resistance, General O’Donnell, leader of the Liberal Union, took power.
6. THE LAST YEARS OF THE REIGN (1856-1868)
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This brings us to the last period of the reign of Isabel II. The conservatism has evolved into an eclectic mind, which is the dominating policy in the last quarter century. Odonell and Narvaez chair governments who take turns during the last twelve years of the reign of Elizabeth II, and although the very end Odonell try to make some changes to the moderates, progressives and Democrats end up breaking down soft power and the throne of Elizabeth II in 1868 . Odonell moderate work is reflected in the reorganization of provincial and local councils in the dissolution of the National Guard and the Courts, in the suspension of ecclesiastical confiscation (not civil) and the restoration of the Constitution of 1845. The lack of ideological strength of the groups in power and the general European economic crisis of 1865-1866 will contribute to the collapse of the regime. A disagreement between moderate and unionist joins the danger of the alliance between progressives and Democrats, which is reflected in the meeting in Ostend by members of these parties to decide the dethronement of Isabel II. When Odonell dead, takes over the leadership of General Serrano Union, which adheres to the covenant of Ostend, the throne is left without support.
The Glorious Revolution of 1868 broke out in September 1868 called “Glorious Revolution” that began with a military uprising in Cadiz. The revolutionaries were imposed quickly and soon encountered resistance. The result of the 1868 revolution was the overthrow of Queen Elizabeth II immediate flight to France. Some of the factors that could explain the success of this revolution were: • The crisis of the existing political system, which was criticized as corrupt, corrupt, despotic einmoral by the revolutionaries. The moderate government showed its inability to solve the problems of the country, was closed to the implementation of necessary reforms and continued to deny political rights to the majority of citizens in May. • The economic depression that began in 1866 and also affected other European countries. Its impact in Spain were the collapse of the stock market, rising unemployment, rising prices of staple foods above 40%, the bankruptcy of many companies and financial companies (closed six of the 21 existing banks) , paralyzing the railway works (only 1865 were built during 929kilómetros of railways, while in 1866 there were 40 km in 1867 is not exceeded 180 km and in 1868 only 55 km), the runaway national debt and increasing fiscal pressure on the population. Furthermore, drought caused crop failures and famine spread. • The growing unpopularity of Queen Elizabeth and her stubbornness to uphold at all costs to the moderates in power. the 1868 revolution lacked social or economic content, and had a purely political character, because the goals of the revolutionary front were the introduction of universal suffrage and the overthrow of Isabel II. The three political forces that participated in the revolutionary coalition was the Progressive Liberal Party (now led by General Juan Prim), the Democratic Party and the Liberal Union, led by General Francisco Serrano.El brain of the revolution was Prim, a military liberal, Catalan and Mason who had gained reputation and popularity during the war in Morocco. In October 1868 the interim government was formed out of revolution, with the exclusion of the Democratic Unionist Party chaired Featured Serrano and progressive at the head of several ministries. The government convened shortly after Constituent Assembly elections by universal male suffrage. The process was relatively clean, voted 70% of the electorate and won their progress and dominate the debates and votes in Parliament where he drafted the new constitution. The 1869 Constitution The Constitution was the most radically liberal of all promulgated in Spain during the nineteenth century. At meetings of the Constituent Assembly were heard for the first time very extremist views. Thus, the Republican Sunyer Capdevila declared “war on God, kings and TB while the extremist Republican Congressman Joseph Orense dared to claim the abolition of all prisons to understand that no person should be imprisoned for any reason. The most innovative and fundamental aspects of the Constitution of 1869 included the recognition of national sovereignty, the introduction of universal suffrage for all males over 25 years, freedom of religious worship, the establishment of democratic monarchy, the popular choice of senators and cutting the king’s powers to limit its role in the legislative process. Affirmed the freedom of education and the recognition of the rights and freedoms of assembly and association, that none of the previous constitutions had mentioned Spanish.The Constitution also introduced a trial for people’s courts for certain crimes, although these never materialized because of political squabbles and excessive economic costs of its implementation. In any case, our justice system has not improved since, as had happened in previous years, continued political interference and the various governments have always intervened in part in the appointment and change of judges and their decisions and judgments . In addition, the judges especially in small towns lacked the proper training and often unaware of how loud the necessary legal knowledge of their profession. Once approved the Constitution and bearing in mind that the monarchy remained, General Serrano was elected to the regency on an interim basis, and General Prim went on to play the premiership. The search for a new monarch to Spain was the first major task facing the government controlled by liberals. Among the candidates for the throne had several individuals belonging to several important royal houses of Europe: • The Portuguese Ferdinand of Coburg was too old and rejected the offer. • The Duke Antonio de Montpensier was son of the late French King Louis Philippe of Orleans and was married to the sister of Elizabeth II, who had intrigued against previous years. Despite being the favorite of the unionists, all possibilities were finally dismissed after holding a pistol duel against Henry of Bourbon, brother of Elizabeth II’s husband was shot dead. • The German Leopold of Hohenzollern had the powerful support of the Kaiser and the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, but the French emperor Napoleon III had refused to occupy the Spanish throne, fearing that France could be caught between two countries with the same dynasty kings . As with sequence, the Hohenzollern lost his options and his candidacy has become one of the immediate reasons that triggered the Franco-German king 1870.Como choice Prim was complicated and they flatly refused any such Alfonso Borbón, the infant son of Elizabeth II to occupy the throne, the Parliament finally chose Amadeus of Savoy, whose father was Victor Emmanuel II, King of the newly unified Italy. 3 .- The reign of Amadeo I (1871 – 1873) This rule failed soon as a result of increased unrest and social conflict, lack of authority and inefficiency of the rulers of the intensification of political confrontation, the rapid expansion of the revolutionary internationalist workers’ movement and the action of the numerous and powerful political opposition to the democratic monarchy. The same day Amadeo’s arrival to Spain in January 1871, General Prim died, as the man most prestige and personal popularity, played a key role in the new political system emerged after the success of the 1868 revolution . Consequently, the beloved monarch born already badly strained by this event. Prim was the victim of an attack whose circumstances were never clarified, as you never know the motives or identity of the perpetrators of the murder. One of the major factors that contributed to increasing political instability during the reign loved was the breakup of the coalition between the parties had jointly participated in the triumph of the “Glorious Revolution” of 1868. The above partnership was replaced by increasingly intense confrontations between Democrats, unionists and progressives. For example, many former members of the Liberal Union, as Alonso Martínez Cánovas and denied its support for the regime loved and joined the opposition group defending the rights to the throne of Prince Alfonso de Bourbon (son of Elizabeth II).Another much more difficult for the interests of the new king of Italian origin was the deep division that was opened in the heart of liberalism after the assassination of Prim, which ended with the party split into two different political groups: the Constitutional Party (led by Matthew Práxedes Sagasta) and the Radical Party (headed by Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla). These two leaders who fought for the progressive leadership after the death of Prim held ideological differences, but above all, they were separated by an irreconcilable personal enmity (and that
interestingly both were prominent Masons). Therefore, during the two-year reign was followed constantly changing government and held three general elections.
Moreover, the situation in large cities led to the distress of the more affluent sectors of society, who watched with growing concern the increase in strikes,
demonstrations by unemployed workers, the increase in the number of beggars in the streets, the spread of a typhus epidemic and the resurgence of the Luddite riots antimaquinistas.
Among the most significant of the various governments that held power since the beginning of 1869 until the end of 1872 emphasized the creation of the peseta as new
monetary unit, the establishment of a free trade tariff, the new mining law and other anticlerical measures as the adoption of a decree requiring the clergy to
oath of allegiance to the Constitution (few church obey him), the suppression of the theological faculties in the universities and the seizure of all libraries and
art collections of ecclesiastical institutions. In those years, the French government also ordered to remove crucifixes from the walls of schools, hospitals and courts, and the Mexican government restricted the use of ecclesiastical vestments and the celebration of religious events outside the precincts of the church. In any case, the more important was the distortion of all the elections which eventually undermine democratic principles that served as basis for the political system. In addition, the new king in spite of his personal qualities and his willingness never managed to win the affection of the Spanish and was against a different opposition groups among which were the Carlist, Republicans, supporters of the dynasty alfonsinos Bourbon, the revolutionary internationalists and the Catholic clergy. The Carlist resurfaced with a vengeance because after the fall of Isabel II are
joined by many ultra-conservative Catholics frightened by the increasingly radical course and uncontrolled democratic revolution. One example was the publication in 1871 of the book
Don Carlos or oil, where the author raised the canon Vicente Manterola readers a choice between the Carlist victory or the victory of revolutionary internationalists arsonists. Thus, the Carlist is contesting the elections of 1871 and received no less than 51 members in 26 different provinces, winning an absolute majority in Vizcaya, Navarra, Guipúzcoa, Lugo, Cuenca and Ciudad Real. However, one year laterarrival, Carlist 50,000 volunteers to take up arms again this time led by the self-titled Charles VII, the grandson of Don Carlos María Isidro. Clerics also swelled the ranks of the opposition and the Vatican broke relations with the government, denied recognition to the Spanish diplomatic representative to the Holy See and the papal nuncio left our country because they felt unsafe after a disturbance at his home in Madrid (the crowd came to start the papal shield the palace gate of the nunciature).For their part, Republicans were in favor of political reforms, social and economic egalitarian, bold and radical. Anticlericalism was another of his hallmarks, as clerics denounced as enemies of freedom, democracy, the people and progress, recalling the activities of the Inquisition and papal condemnations of modern ideas. The arguments used to justify their animosity against the clergy always insisted on the identification of the Catholic Church as the main bulwark of absolutism obscurantist and Carlist, blaming the priests and friars to form the biggest obstacle to educational, scientific and material Spain. A sample of the clerofobia republican parliamentary speech was delivered by Francisco Pi y Maragall stating that “religious communities were composed by men who were the epitome of supreme selfishness, men who violated the laws of nature, which broke with the family, deviated from their parents and siblings, who died without children, who are away from work and lacked any kind of virtue. ” Republicans also advocated the abolition of slavery in Spanish colonial territories of Cuba and Puerto Rico. All these problems are compounded by the discomfort of the military and the escalation of guerrilla resistance for independence in Cuba and Puerto Rico, which maintained a constant struggle against the Spanish troops from the beginning of the separatist insurgency in 1868. Finally, Amadeo, who felt alone and helpless, made the decision to renounce the throne and return to Italy, where he died in 1890. Given the power vacuum and lack of viable alternatives, the deputies and senators gathered at an extraordinary majority chose to proclaim the Republic on February 11, 1873. 4 .- The First Republic (1873-1874)
With the proclamation of the Republic put an end to many centuries of existence of the monarchy, which had remained continuously in our country since the distant days of the first Visigoth king Ataúlfo in the sixth century. However, the new republican regime lacked from the beginning of extensive social supports and failed quickly. In addition,
more powerful social groups bourgeoisie, aristocrats, high clergy, military commanders always felt hostility, fear and suspicion regarding the intentions of the reforms of the new Republican leaders, whose ability to maintain security and public order also distrusted. Almost all Republican leaders, who held each other constant differences
personal and ideological, were prestigious and respected figures of the Spanish intellectuals of the time. In just ten months passed by the chair of government four presidents
different: Estanislao Figueres (a lawyer and journalist who chose to leave in haste to flee to France by surprise when things got rough), Francisco Pi y
Margall (great theoretician of federalism), Nicolás Salmerón (a professor of philosophy who resigned on moral grounds for refusing to sign two death sentences) and Emilio Castelar (a professor of History of Spain representing the current most conservative Republicans). Overall, his performance in office was marked by tentativeness, impotence, inability to ensure the normal functioning of the state and the weak to control an increasingly complicated situation. The main measures that the various republican governments planned or carried out during 1873 reforms were well intentioned and inspired by humanitarian feelings, but in fact were unsuccessful, inappropriate and lacking in common sense: • The abolition of the consumption tax was disastrous for the public accounts because the tax constituted a major source of revenue for the state.• The elimination of the fifth to create a new army composed exclusively of volunteers was also hired unworkable and failed. Soon it was necessary to restore conscription because the republican government held two simultaneous wars against the Carlist and the cantons. However, the attempt to end the fifth served only to divide up the discipline of recruits in the barracks, causing an increase in desertions. • reduction of the voting age to 21 years. This did not prevent the majority of citizens continue disinterested in political issues, and that the abstention rate exceeded 65% in the May 1873 elections. • The suspension of economic subsidies to the Catholic clergy and the complete separation of church and state. • The prohibition of child labor under 10 years in factories and mines. Other proposals for reform of socio-economic content that were raised but ultimately were not successful project delivery of public lands among poor laborers, a reduction of working hours in factories to a maximum of 9 hours a day and a building project “mixed jury” formed by employers and workers
in order to facilitate negotiations on wages and working conditions to resolve disputes and prevent strikes. • The abolition of slavery in the Spanish colony of Puerto Rico, where there were still some 30,000 slaves. However, the Republicans failed to enact the end of slavery on the island of Cuba (then Brazil was the only country in the world where slavery still existed). • The development of a draft constitution to turn Spain into a federal state. The objective was to decentralize the country through the creation of 17 federated regions (Alta Andalucía, Baja Andalucía, Aragón, Asturias, Baleares, Canarias, Castilla la Nueva, Castilla la Vieja, Catalonia, Extremadura, Galicia, Murcia, Navarra, Valencia, Basque , Cuba and Puerto Rico) that should have wide political autonomy, administrative, legislative and economic (eg, within its competencies included a finance and own police forces.) This new legislative plan never came to be approved. • In relation to foreign policy, all efforts undertaken to achieve unity between Spain and Portugal Iberian failed (although the international context seemed favorable to the cause of national unification of Germany and Italy in 1870). So the dream of integration of the two peoples in one state peninsular unsuccessful opposition to the British government and the reluctance of the Portuguese in an uneven absorption. In addition, in 1873, only Switzerland and the U.S. had recognized the Spanish Republic, which even managed to establish diplomatic relations with the French republican government. Throughout 1873, the republican regime was faced with several conflicts and difficulties of extreme gravity, which spread among the Spanish public’s perception of living a chaotic and unbearable. These problems were: a) The economic crisis and increasing social unrest. The strikes multiplied, deepened state bankruptcy forcing the government to suspend payment of its debts, dues from firms in the stock market fell continuously and Fear led many depositors to withdraw their deposits from banks. Meanwhile, the laborers Andalusian excited because they expected that the Republic would begin the distribution of land set out to occupy farms by force, and internationalist anarchist workers extended their strike preparing revolutionary activities in Alcoy and seizing nearly three months in that city Alicante (until recovered by the troops of the Army).b) The military discontent. During the first five weeks after the proclamation of the Republic and there were two unsuccessful attempts to revolt against the government showing concern among army commanders. c) The Carlist war. Supporters Charles VII took control of rural Basque-Navarre and found some support in Aragon, Valencia and Catalonia, as the Carlist pretender pledged to restore the privileges of Aragon and Catalonia suppressed by King Philip V in 1715. The army initially obtained some resonant Carlist military successes, and Charles VII was to create a formal government capital in Estella (Navarra), which even released stamps and coins. D) The insurrections cantonalists. During the presidency of Pi i Maragall occurs throughout Spain an event on the regions, cities or counties are declared republics or cantons and rebel against the state with great violence. A confusing mix of uncompromising democratism, federalism utopian revolutionary egalitarianism and anti-capitalist workers’ demands formed the ideology of cantonalists leaders and their followers (including many blue-collar workers were employees, students and internationalist anarchist). However, only the lifting of Alcoy and some sporadic in Andalusia were aspects of social revolution, but still success was due more to the collapse of public order forces to the force of the revolution. In the case of Andalusia, workers are impatient because despite all the promises the federal not helped them in their struggle against the traditional piecework. In fact, we can say that this uprising was an expression of hope betrayed the local federal politicians who saw the power away from them, violent men who by their actions managed to discredit the Republicans for a generation and that the revolt was used to demonstrate Cantonalist republicanism that led to anarchy. The insurrection began in the city of Cartagena in Murcia, which was established in “canton” or regional state-independent, later, the movement spread to many other towns in Valencia and Andalusia. Cantonalists insurgents, who sought to “not to be governed by the Madrid government” became the domain of more than thirty cities of Castellón, Malaga, Seville, Granada, Cadiz, Valencia, Sanlucar de Barrameda, Torrevieja, Almansa, Andújar Tarifa, Algeciras, Bailen, Alicante and Salamanca. All were proclaimed as free and separate cantons, so the independent Cartagena declared war on the central government, some cantons declared war on each other (as Granada to Jaén) and others came to draft their own constitution and even prepared to mint own currency (this was the case in the canton of Granada). Also, in some cantons Andalusia (as Cádiz) were destroyed monasteries, religious holidays were abolished, the Catholic processions were banned and removed the sacred images of buildings and streets. Moreover, the revolt Cantonalist pushed the Republic to the right, causing the end of politics of persuasion and the legality of Pi i Maragall was seen between the need to confront the rebellion with an iron fist which undoubtedly would cause criticism from the left or to act in a spirit of dialogue persuasive and it would be accused of complicity -. In this situation Pi i Maragall resigned and was succeeded Salmerón. Salmerón appealed to the Army he could end the resistance Cantonalist except in Malaga and Cartagena, which had the support of the military. By treating them as criminals cantonalists, raised the issue of restoration of the death penalty forcing the resignation of Salmon, opposed it, succeeded Castelar. Cantonalists insurrections were put down harshly by the military republican government and the January 12, 1874 was submitted the last county that had successfully resisted
(Cartagena). Undoubtedly, the cantonal conflict was used by the enemies of the Republic to associate the democratic system was introduced with the violence and disturbances e) The Cuban independence war. The separatist guerrillas had begun their uprising in 1868 the cry of “Free Cover!” were led by Carlos Manuel Cespedes (a landowner who studied in Barcelona and was a friend of Prim), Máximo Gómez and Antonio Maceo mulatto. Cuba was one of the few possessions still held colonial Spain and then held the first in the world in sugar production. In addition, it was a modern and highly developed island’s per capita income in Cuba was much higher than that of mainland Spain and was one of the first places in the world where steam engines were installed and electric telegraph lines. He even built a railway line there (Havana-wink) ten years earlier than in the Peninsula, and when he opened the first online Spanish Barcelona-Mataró, in Cuba there were more than 900 kilometers of railways.
f) The Alphonsine conspiracies. The former Queen Elizabeth had given the rights to the throne to his son Alfonso and both living in exile abroad. But in our country, most of the bourgeoisie, all the aristocracy and numerous Army generals and officials wanted the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy and to this end began to prepare and plan for action, to bring down the Republic. 5 THE REPUBLIC OF 1874 .- The first phase of the Republic ended January 4, 1874 when General Manuel
Pavia a democratic soldier who had participated in the war against the cantonalists culminated in a coup. His troops surrounded the Congress building in the early morning (when it would proceed with the election ballot for a new president to replace Castelar government) and several civil guards burst into the room by evicting the deputies, who fled toward the gates. However, Pavia who had revolted with the complicity of many other generals had no personal desire to stay with the power and immediately convened a meeting of leading military commanders and senior leaders of all parties (excluding only of the most uncompromising and radical Republicans.) As decided at that meeting, General Francisco Serrano took over as head of state with full powers. However, among his ministers had known Democratic politicians and leftists as Sagasta and Cristino Martos. The Serrano government acted in exceptional circumstances and suspended the 1869 Constitution, dissolved the Cortes, ordered the banning of the international labor movement and imposed order on the streets. This meant in fact the end of the First Republic, although this political system nominally still remained for several months. The restoration of the Bourbon monarchy was finally consummated on December 29, 1874, when General Arsenio Martínez Campos then sympathized with the moderate party rose up with less than 2,000 soldiers and proclaimed the new king Alfonso XII of Spain. For its part, Serrano and Sagasta rejecting the return of the Bourbons to the throne because a few years earlier had participated in the expulsion of Isabel II as important players in the revolution of 1868 left France to the lack of military support to resist, after refusing to distribute weapons among the people and block with barricades as Madrid had asked Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla and Francisco Pi y Maragall.