Cádiz Cortes and 1812 Constitution: Spain’s Political Shift
– Cádiz Cortes and the 1812 Constitution
During the war, two political models clashed: the French reformist model, led by Joseph Bonaparte, and the emerging Spanish liberal model, culminating in the Cádiz Cortes.
Joseph Bonaparte’s model, supported by enlightened Spaniards and Europeans, lacked legitimacy. He convened Spanish notables in Bayonne to approve the Statute of Bayonne (July 1808). This granted charter, a moderate reform, was hindered by the war. It established an authoritarian regime with the king holding almost absolute power, recognized some individual rights and economic freedoms, proclaimed Catholicism as the sole religion, and created a parliament representing the three estates. Reforms included abolishing feudal rights and the Inquisition, suppressing male religious and military orders, dismantling most councils, dividing the country into prefectures, and continuing confiscations, particularly from clergy and nobility who opposed Joseph I. These measures were abolished by Ferdinand VII after the war.
The national political model emerged through the Boards and the Cortes.
Spaniards who neither supported Joseph Bonaparte nor the ancien régime fostered a new political system. This political revolution led to new institutions acting on behalf of the king, but legitimized by the Spanish people. The most important were the boards, local and provincial agencies composed of enlightened military figures, clergy, and political leaders elected by citizens.
The need for political and military coordination led to the formation of provincial supreme boards and, in September 1808, a Supreme Central Junta in Aranjuez, including Jovellanos. Fleeing French troops, the Supreme Council settled in Cádiz and decided to convene a Parliament, which first met in September 1810. The Cádiz Cortes comprised deputies from all parts of Spain, including representatives from occupied provinces.
The Cortes worked until September 1813, with membership growing to 223. Primarily clerics, lawyers, civil or military officials, with some nobles, merchants, and landowners, they lacked representation from artisans, industrial workers, and peasants. The urban middle class was the protagonist of the Cádiz Cortes.
Members were divided into three ideological groups:
- Liberals: Advocated for national sovereignty vested in the Cortes.
- Jovellanists: Favored a compromise between the nation and the king through an estates Cortes.
- Absolutists: Opposed reform and supported the traditional system with the king’s sovereignty derived from God.
The most significant reform was the Constitution of 1812, Spain’s first constitution approved by a national parliament.
Its key principles, inspired by the French Constitution of 1789, were:
- National Sovereignty: Residing in the nation, including colonial residents.
- Separation of Powers: Legislative power in the unicameral Cortes; executive power held by the king with a suspensory veto; judicial power in the courts.
- Individual Rights: Recognition of rights like liberty, property, tax and legal equality, inviolability of the home, and freedom of the press, though not a formal declaration.
- Catholicism: Proclaimed as the sole official religion, forbidding others.
- Universal Male Suffrage: Indirect, through elected representatives.
Other articles addressed tax and finance reform, a national army, conscription, and compulsory primary education. The territory was divided into provinces with county councils, municipalities with elected officials, and the National Military.
Social and economic measures included:
- Abolition of the feudal regime and feudal rights (1811).
- Maintenance of territorial domains, with owners becoming landowners.
- Confiscation (1813) of Francophile properties, dissolved military orders, war-damaged convents and monasteries, and half of municipal land, sold at public auction.
- Abolition of the Inquisition, internal customs, and guilds.
Due to the war, these reforms were not immediately implemented but formed the program of Spanish Liberals for decades.