Spanish Politics: Power Shifts and Ideologies (1837-1843)
Power Alternations (1837-1843)
Moderates in Government (1837-1840)
Following the approval of the constitution, the moderates won the 1837 elections. In 1840, they drafted a more restrictive electoral and municipal law, granting themselves the power to appoint mayors of provincial capitals. They also initiated legislation to reintroduce the tithe. This municipal law sparked opposition from progressive liberals, leading to an insurrection and the formation of revolutionary committees. Maria Cristina subsequently resigned.
Espartero’s Regency (1840-1843)
Progressive sectors supported General Espartero, who assumed power in 1840. His rule was authoritarian, relying on military allies. An 1842 tariff opened the Spanish market to British cotton, threatening the Catalan textile industry and provoking an uprising in Barcelona involving both the bourgeoisie and working classes. Moderates exploited divisions within progressivism and Espartero’s isolation, leading to conspiracies by Generals O’Donnell and Narvaez. Espartero left the regency in 1843, and Isabel II was proclaimed queen at age 13.
Political Groupings
Moderates
This diverse group of landowners, merchants, conservative intellectuals, nobility, high clergy, and high-ranking military officers prioritized “order.” They defended property rights as essential for social order and advocated shared sovereignty between the courts and the Crown, granting the latter significant powers (appointing ministers, dissolving courts, vetoing laws). They supported census suffrage and limiting individual rights, especially press, opinion, assembly, and association freedoms. Clerical in nature, they defended the confessional state and the Catholic Church’s social influence.
Progressives
Considered defenders of freedom, this group consisted mainly of the middle and petty bourgeoisie and urban working classes. They championed national sovereignty, dominance of the courts, strengthened local authorities, and broader individual rights. They supported wider suffrage and limiting the Church’s social influence, advocating for religious freedom and a citizen militia to defend rights and liberties.
Democrats and Republicans
A progressive split in 1849 formed the Democratic Party, advocating popular sovereignty, universal male suffrage, a single elective chamber, expanded civil liberties, and recognition of collective rights, including press freedom, a national militia, and elected local councils. While acknowledging the Catholic Church’s social prominence, they demanded freedom of worship for all religions. This group drew support from the urban working classes and lower military ranks, defending a republic with elected officials and a strong social and popular base.