The Spanish Restoration: Politics & Constitution of 1876
The Constitution of 1876: The Political System of the Restoration
The Restoration extends from the pronouncement of General Martinez Campos in December 1874, which proclaimed Alfonso de Bourbon, son of Elizabeth II, as king, to the coup d’état of General Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, during the reign of Alfonso XIII. The Restoration covers the reign of Alfonso XII (1875-1885), the Regency of Maria Cristina (1885-1902), and the reign of Alfonso XIII until 1923, with the coup of Miguel Primo de Rivera. His reign ended in April 1931 with the proclamation of the Second Republic.
The Restoration saw the return of a conservative, doctrinaire liberalism representing the interests of the bourgeoisie and the landowning oligarchy. Antonio Canovas del Castillo was the key figure in the restoration of the monarchy. Canovas came from the Liberal Union and was the chief architect of the Sexenio Democratico, preparing the return of the Bourbon monarchy with Alfonso de Bourbon. Canovas composed the Manifesto of Sandhurst, published on December 1, 1874, which Alfonso signed. In it, the king presented himself to the Spanish people and offered himself as a constitutional and Catholic monarch.
On December 29, General Martinez Campos proclaimed Alfonso King. The government resigned, and Canovas assumed the regency until the king’s arrival in January 1875. He had already established the new political system, which aimed to meet the following objectives:
- Firmly establish the Monarchy as a form of state, ensuring it had a broad base of social support to provide stability and restore its reputation.
- Establish a two-party system, valid for former Moderates, Unionists, Progressives, and Democrats, on the condition that they accepted the Bourbon monarchy and the alternation in power. This resulted in the emergence of the Liberal Party (former Progressives) and the Conservative Party (former Moderates), which would alternate in power.
- Remove the army from political life. The goal was to establish civilian control over the military. The military’s role was to fulfill its constitutional mission of defense and ensure the maintenance of social order. Access to government would be through elections for parties integrated into the system (Liberals and Conservatives). Alfonso XII, a king with military training and head of the army, would bring an end to wars (Third Carlist War and the War of Cuba) at the beginning of his reign, in 1876 and 1878, respectively.
The Constitution of 1876
The basis of the new system was established in the Constitution of 1876, which remained in force until Primo de Rivera’s coup in 1923. The 1876 Constitution was drafted by a commission of 39 notables, chosen from among 600 nominated by Canovas. To legitimize it, it was approved by the Constitutional Courts convened in January 1876, where Canovas held a majority.
The new political system had a distinctly conservative character and created a liberal parliamentary system, but it was hardly democratic. This Constitution was inspired by the 1845 Constitution and adhered to doctrinaire liberalism, granting the king a moderating power. The Constitution established the following principles:
- Shared sovereignty between the Courts and the Crown. The Courts were organized into two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.
- No specific voting system was defined. The ruling party would decide, through electoral law, whether suffrage would be universal or based on a census (it was census-based until 1890 when the Liberal Sagasta achieved universal male suffrage).
- The Crown was recognized as a pillar of the new regime and granted privileges such as the right of suspensive veto for one year, shared legislative power with Parliament, and executive power exercised through the Head of Government and ministers appointed by the king and accountable to the Cortes.
- The Catholic faith was proclaimed as the state religion. Other cults were tolerated.
- The Constitution included a bill of rights, but its implementation was referred to ordinary laws, which generally tended to restrict them, especially the rights of the press, association, and assembly.
- The Constitution established administrative and political centralization. Upon completion of the Third Carlist War (1873-1876), the Basque privileges were abolished by a Decree-Law of 1876, imposing equal taxation and military service for all Spanish citizens. From then on, Basques were subject to common state taxes and military service. An”economic agreemen” system was introduced in 1878, granting the Basque provinces a degree of fiscal autonomy, under which they would pay a certain amount to the central government, collected by the provinces themselves.
In short, the Constitution established a moderate system based on a census, with limitations on citizens’ political rights, in the interests of the conservative oligarchy and based on the alternation between two major parties. However, its flexible and open character allowed for reforms introduced in successive years (universal suffrage was implemented in 1890).
The Monarchy, the Dynastic Parties, the *Cacique*
The Monarchy
Canovas aimed to achieve a stable political regime. To do so, he was inspired by the British parliamentary system and the principles of doctrinaire liberalism, which granted the king significant power in the political system. Canovas transplanted the British system of alternating parties to Spain, creating a constitutional monarchy where the monarch would respect and fulfill the powers reserved by the Constitution.
For Canovas, the Monarchy was integral to Spain’s history and was to be established as the form of state. The King would have a role in political life. In the 1876 Constitution, he shared sovereignty and legislative power with the courts, could veto legislation, convene, suspend, and dissolve parliament, exercised executive power, and elected the Head of Government. He also played a moderating role in the party system by choosing the previously agreed-upon candidate as Prime Minister. The system’s architects were aware of its artificiality and the limited contact between these institutions and the majority of the population.
The Dynastic Parties
The key element of the Restoration’s political system was the two-party system, with two major parties: the Conservative Party and the Liberal Party, known as the dynastic parties. Both agreed fundamentally on ideology but took on complementary roles in a consensual manner. They were elite minority parties, formed by the bourgeoisie and the middle class. Their social backgrounds were similar, although the Conservatives were dominated by landowners and the Liberals by liberal professionals (doctors, journalists, judges, lawyers). Both parties had journalists, institutions, and committees throughout the national territory.
Both parties defended the constitutional monarchy, the 1876 Constitution, private property, the capitalist system, and the consolidation of a unitary and centralized liberal state. However, they differed on some issues:
- The Conservative-Liberal Party, created by Antonio Canovas del Castillo during the six years, united supporters of the Bourbons in the person of Alfonso (son of Elizabeth II). It was formed by moderate unionists and brought together the most conservative and traditional elements of society. The ruling classes were landowners, financiers, industrialists, the commercial bourgeoisie, and the hierarchies of the Church, army, and administration. Ideologically, the Conservatives defended political stagnation, census suffrage, the Church, and social order, limiting freedoms such as press censorship and restricting academic freedom.
- The Liberal-Fusionist Party, created in 1881 by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta, brought together former progressives, unionists, some moderate ex-republicans, and the industrial bourgeoisie and urban middle classes. Ideologically, the Liberals were more inclined towards progressive reformism and secularism.
The *Cacique*
To control the electoral process, a range of rigging and fraud mechanisms were used, including the *encasillado* and patronage, ensuring the peaceful alternation of parties in power, a characteristic of the Restoration. This peaceful alternation consisted of the regular rotation in government between the two major parties of Spanish liberalism: Liberals and Conservatives. Its objective was institutional and political stability.
During the Restoration, the two parties accepted this alternation, ceding power when the ruling party suffered political wear and lost the confidence of the King and the Cortes. The monarch then called on the head of the opposition party to form a government. The new prime minister would call elections to obtain a parliamentary majority sufficient to provide stable power. Election fraud and despotic mechanisms ensured that elections were always favorable to the government that convened them.
The alternation of power was made possible by census suffrage, more favorable treatment in rural districts compared to urban ones, and a fraudulent and corrupt electoral system based on manipulation and electoral chicanery, which developed as follows:
- The Minister of the Interior elaborated the *encasillado*, a list of candidates who should be elected as deputies in the elections.
- The Minister of the Interior sent the *encasillado* to the civil governors of the provinces, and they, in turn, to the mayors and *caciques*. From there, the entire state administrative apparatus set in motion a whole set of electoral tricks to achieve their goal. This is known as rigging, the adulteration of election results.
To secure the election of the desired candidate, they falsified the census (including deceased individuals), prevented certain people from voting, manipulated electoral records, engaged in vote-buying, and threatened the electorate with coercion of any kind (preventing opposition propaganda, intimidating supporters, or not allowing auditors). All this was done using the influence and economic power of the *caciques*, individuals or families who, due to their economic power (landowners) or political influence, controlled a particular constituency.
*Caciquismo* was more evident in rural areas, where the population relied on them, as they provided work. Through their control of the City Council, they issued reports and personal certificates, controlled the draft for military service, proposed the allocation of contributions and taxes, and could resolve or complicate paperwork and administrative procedures. They used their favors to secure electoral loyalty.
*Caciquismo* corresponded to a predominantly rural structure, as was the case in Spain. These practices were supported by the abstention of a large proportion of the population. Voter apathy was due to the non-representative nature of the elections.