Spain’s 19th Century: From Constitution to Conflict
The Call for Cuts
The Central Junta dissolved itself, but not before initiating a process of calling for courts with representatives of the nation to decide their destiny. While the courts were meeting, a regency was held. The process of electing deputies to the Cortes and their meeting in Cadiz were difficult given the state of war, and in many cases, replacements were chosen. The liberal atmosphere of the city influenced the fact that many of those elected were sympathetic to these ideas. The courts were opened in September 1810, and the liberals achieved the formation of a single chamber. At its first meeting, the principle of national sovereignty was approved.
The Constitution of 1812
Drafting began in August and was enacted on March 19, 1812, Saint Joseph’s Day, so it became popularly known as La Pepa. It was a lengthy text. The constitution contained a bill of citizens’ rights: freedom of thought and opinion, Spanish equality before the law, the right of petition, civil liberty, property rights, and recognition of the Spanish nation. The nation was defined as the set of all the citizens of both hemispheres: the peninsular territories and the colonies.
The state structure corresponded to a limited monarchy, based on the separation of powers. The legislature, representing the national will, made laws, approved budgets, and ratified international treaties. Universal male suffrage was indirect. The monarch was the head of the executive, so they appointed the government and intervened in the drafting of laws, possessing a suspensive veto for two years. The administration of justice was the exclusive competence of the courts, and the basic principles of the rule of law were established. Other articles of the constitution addressed tax and property reform, creating a national army, conscription, the introduction of primary education, and publishing regulations. The territory was divided into provinces, with county councils for internal government, and the national militia was created. It also affirmed the Catholic confessional state.
Legislative Action of the Courts
The Cortes of Cadiz adopted a series of laws and decrees designed to eliminate the old regime and establish a liberal regime. This included the elimination of jurisdictional domains, distinguishing them from the land, which became private property in the lordships. They decreed the abolition of primogeniture and the confiscation of lands. The abolition of the Inquisition was voted for, as was the cancellation of guilds and the unification of the market. This marked the first basic lines of liberalism for the modernization of Spain. Cadiz’s work had a considerable impact, although it was not fully practiced. The war situation precluded its effective implementation, and the end of the war saw the return of Ferdinand VII, frustrating the liberal experience and leading to the return of absolutism.
The Restoration of Absolutism
Liberals were wary of the monarch accepting the new constitutional order. However, the absolutists quickly organized to demand the restoration of absolutism (Manifesto of the Persians) and mobilized the people to show their unconditional allegiance to the monarch. Ferdinand VII, by Royal Decree of May 4, 1814, overrode the Constitution and laws of Cadiz and announced a return to absolutism. He proceeded to restore all ancient institutions. It was a return to the old regime, in an international context determined by the restoration of the old order by the Congress of Vienna and the capacity of the Holy Alliance.
From 1815, Ferdinand VII and his government tried to rebuild a country ravaged by war and with colonies fighting for independence. Their governments failed one after another. The high human and material losses ruined the peasantry and led to the stagnation of trade and manufacturing. The treasury went bankrupt due to massive military spending. Added to these problems was the fact that past events had changed the mindset of many social groups. The peasantry had failed to pay manorial rents, and much of the urban bourgeoisie demanded a return to constitutional rule. Finally, the integration of guerrilla leaders into the military sector originated a liberal faction that would star in numerous future pronouncements. Ferdinand’s governments were incapable of responding to the problems. The liberal military pronouncements showed discontent and the failure of the absolute monarchy. Repression was the monarchy’s only response to political and social demands.
The Liberal Triennium
Colonel Rafael del Riego rose up and, proclaiming in Andalusia, forced Ferdinand VII to accept the constitution. He immediately formed a new government, proclaimed an amnesty, and called for elections to the Cortes. The results gave a majority to the Liberal MPs, who quickly began an important piece of legislation. They restored much of Cadiz’s reforms, such as freedom of industry, abolition of guilds, suspension of primogeniture, and established the decrease of the tithe and tax system reforms, the penal code, and the military. They urged the release of industry and trade, with the removal of barriers to the free movement of goods. Municipalities and county councils were formed, elected, and the national militia, a volunteer armed body, was rebuilt.
All these reforms quickly aroused the opposition of the monarchy. Ferdinand VII had accepted the new regime under duress and tried to paralyze laws by exercising his right of veto and conspiring against the government, seeking to regain his power through the intervention of absolutist powers in Spain. The new liberal triennium measures led to the discontent of the peasants. Jurisdictional domains were abolished, but this did not facilitate access to land. The former lords became the new owners, and farmers, who were tenants, could be evicted from the land if they could not pay, despite a substantial reduction in taxes. The poorest peasants, helpless before the new capitalist legislation, joined the anti-liberal agitation. The traditional nobility and the church led the revolt against the rulers of the triennium. In 1822, absolutist uprisings occurred in Catalonia, Navarre, Galicia, and among skilled laborers. The absolutist volunteers established a royalist regency at Seo de Urgel in 1823. Tensions also arose among liberals, who were divided into two trends: the moderates and the extremists.
Ominous Decade
The liberal regime was brought to an end by the Holy Alliance, which, following Ferdinand’s demands, sent roughly 100,000 troops (the Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis) under the Duke of Angoulême, reinstating Ferdinand VII as an absolute monarch. Ferdinand unleashed fierce repression against the liberals, many of whom went into exile to escape death or jail. The constraints of finances were exacerbated by the permanent loss of the American colonies. The king, beset by economic problems, sought the cooperation of the moderate section of the financial bourgeoisie and granted protective tariffs for Catalan manufactures. Distrust arose from the royalists and ultramontanist sectors, already very unhappy with the king because he had not restored the Inquisition, engaged in royalist uprisings, and defended a return to traditional customs and privileges. In court, this sector grouped around Carlos, the expected successor.
The Dynastic Conflict
The birth of a daughter, Isabella, to the king ensured dynastic continuity, but this led to a serious conflict. The Salic Law barred women from accessing the throne, but Ferdinand struck it down by mediating the Pragmatic Sanction. The Carlists refused to accept the new situation. These clashes were framed as a struggle to impose one model or another of society. Don Carlos’s forces gathered supporters of the old regime who opposed liberalism. Maria Christina realized that if she wanted to save the throne for her daughter, she should seek support from the liberals. As regent, she formed a new reformist government and decreed an amnesty, preparing to face the Carlists. Ferdinand VII died in 1833, reaffirming his will and naming his daughter Maria Cristina as governor. The same day, Don Carlos was proclaimed king, and the absolutists launched an uprising in northern Spain and Catalonia, thus beginning the First Carlist War.