Moderate Decade in Spain (1844-1854): Rise and Fall
Moderate Decade (1844-1854)
4.1 Setting the Moderate Regime
The 1844 elections gave the moderates a majority, and the new government, headed by Narváez, imposed a policy based on moderate liberalism. His aim was to end the revolutionary period, normalize the functioning of liberal institutions, and create a law-based order and authority, with repressive measures that ended the social and political hopes of the previous stage. The regime was based on the predominance of the landed bourgeoisie, born from the merger of the old aristocracy and the new rural landowners. They saw a need for a new social order based on liberal institutions that would protect them from both the Carlist reaction and the subversion of the popular classes. The crown and the army remained loyal to a system that did not hesitate to distort the electoral mechanism to secure victory.
4.2 The Constitution of 1845
The Constitution of 1845 collected the basic ideas of moderatism: joint sovereignty between the king and the courts; expansion of executive powers and reduction of legislative powers; restriction of voting rights; and establishment of a non-elected Senate. The council and the provincial administration were subjected to the national government, and the National Militia was abolished. Catholicism was declared the official state religion, and the government agreed to maintain the Church and the clergy.
The new constitution maintained most of the articles of the 1837 Constitution, including the declaration of rights. It also conferred powers to the crown, including the power to appoint ministers, dissolve the courts, veto their decisions, and appoint senators. In 1845, the government established regular control over the press. In 1846, a very restricted census suffrage was introduced. Only the largest contributors of each locality and some important figures in culture, the military, administration, and the Church could vote. This favored the predominance of the rural vote (more conservative) over the urban vote and facilitated election falsification.
4.3 The Concordat with the Holy See
Moderates were improving relations with the Church, which had been opposed to liberalism and Carlism because of the seizure and abolition of the tithe. In 1851, the government signed a Concordat with the Holy See, which provided for the suspension of the sale of church assets and the return of unsold items. In return, the Holy See recognized Isabella II and accepted the dispossession, while the government undertook to support the Spanish Church.
4.4 The Institutionalization of the Liberal State
Moderatism consolidated the structure of the new liberal state under the principles of centralism, uniformity, and hierarchy. A series of laws and reforms were implemented. The government needed tax reform to increase public revenues. The tax system was rationalized, taxes were centralized in the hands of the state, and the direct contribution was introduced. To end the dispersion of laws from the Old Regime, the Criminal Code was passed and a Civil Code was drafted. Public administration was reformed, with the reorganization of state positions and the creation of a law regulating access to official positions.
The 1845 Law on local administration established that mayors of municipalities with over 2,000 inhabitants and provincial capitals would be appointed by the crown, while the governor would appoint the mayors of smaller municipalities. In summary, each province depended on Madrid. The fear that centralization would result in a revival of the Carlist insurrection led to the 1844 decree that maintained the foral councils and General Meetings in the Basque Country and Navarre but moved customs to the Pyrenees.
A national system of public instruction was established, regulating levels of education. This legislation was supplemented by the Moyona Law, the first major education law. The metric system of weights and measures was adopted. Finally, the National Militia was dissolved, and the Civil Guard, an armed body with civilian purposes, was created in 1844.
4.5 The Crisis in the Moderate Government
Moderate governments failed to achieve political stability. In 1846, there were three governments, and the following year, four. They also acted arbitrarily, manipulating elections. Political life developed not in the courts but in the area around the courts and under the influence of cliques.
The authoritarian nature of the government was emphasized during the Bravo Murillo government (1852), which proposed a reform that would have transformed the state into a technocratic dictatorship. Suffrage and parliamentarism were maintained, and efficient management and the promotion of wealth were considered the only conditions for good governance. Ultimately, this reform meant the disappearance of the parliamentary regime and the return to a system similar to the Royal Statute. The proposal failed, which accentuated the internal decomposition of the party and increased the discontent of broad social layers. A new revolution in 1854 gave power to the progressives.