Reign of Fernando VII: Absolutism vs. Liberalism in Spain
ITEM 12. FERNANDO VII: Absolutists and Liberals. The Emancipation of Spanish America.
The return of the king in March 1814 posed a problem: integrating the monarch into the new political model defined by the Constitution of 1812. Fernando VII had left the country as an absolute monarch and was to return as a constitutional monarch. Liberals distrusted the monarch’s willingness to accept the new constitutional order. Therefore, they arranged for him to travel straight to Madrid to swear to accept the Constitution and the new political framework. Fernando VII complied with these conditions. However, the absolutists (nobility and clergy) knew that the king’s return was their best chance to undo the work of Cadiz and return to the Old Regime. They quickly organized to demand the restoration of absolutism (Manifesto of the Persians) and mobilized the people to show their unconditional adherence to the monarch.
Fernando VII, assured of the liberals’ weakness, betrayed his promises and, by Royal Decree in Valencia on May 4, 1814, annulled the constitution and laws of Cadiz, announcing a return to absolutism. Key liberal leaders were immediately arrested or killed, while others fled into exile. The monarchy proceeded to restore all the old institutions of the feudal regime and the Inquisition. This swing back to the Old Regime was supported by the international context of Napoleon’s defeat, the restoration of the old order across Europe by the Congress of Vienna, and the establishment of the Holy Alliance, which guaranteed the protection of absolutism and the right to intervene in any country to stop the advance of liberalism.
Thus, from 1815, Fernando VII and his government attempted an impossible goal: to remake a country ravaged by war, with all its colonies fighting for independence, and all while restoring the Old Regime. Their governments failed one after another. The high human and material losses and the ruined peasantry led to the stoppage of trade and manufacturing. The royal treasury went bankrupt due to the lack of economic resources, especially because the war in the American colonies required enormous military expenditures and prevented the arrival of new income. Moreover, the events between 1808 and 1814 had changed the mindset of many social groups.
The peasantry had stopped paying manorial rents, and protests erupted over attempts to reimpose old taxes. Freedom to manufacture and market had enabled the development of companies and businesses, and much of the urban bourgeoisie demanded the return of the constitutional regime. Finally, the integration of guerrilla leaders into the military resulted in a liberal sector supportive of reforms, which would become prominent in numerous pronouncements. Liberal military uprisings, urban riots, and rural unrest demonstrated widespread discontent. Repression was the monarchy’s only response to political and social demands.
On January 1, 1820, Colonel Rafael del Riego, leading a company of soldiers stationed in Las Cabezas de San Juan, Seville, rebelled and marched through Andalusia, proclaiming the Constitution of 1812. The passivity of the army, the actions of liberals in major cities, and the neutrality of the peasants forced King Ferdinand VII to accept the Constitution on March 10. He immediately formed a new government, declared an amnesty, and called for elections to the Cortes.
The election results gave a majority to the most liberal members, who quickly began an important legislative program, restoring many of the Cadiz reforms. These reforms quickly aroused the opposition of the monarchy. Fernando VII had accepted the new system under duress and from the outset tried to halt such laws, exercising his constitutional right of veto and conspiring against the government. However, new liberal measures also led to discontent among the peasants during the Trienio, as feudal courts were abolished without facilitating access to land. The traditional nobility and the Church, hurt by the abolition of tithes and the sale of monastic property, led the revolt against the Trienio rulers. In 1822, absolutist uprisings occurred in Catalonia, Navarre, Galicia, and the Maestrazgo. Tensions also arose among liberals, who were divided into two factions: the moderados, supporters of limited reforms that did not harm the social elites, and the exaltados, who advocated radical reforms in favor of the middle class and the populace. The Trienio ended due to the intervention of the Holy Alliance, which, heeding Fernando VII’s calls, commissioned French intervention in Spain.