Spanish Historical Evolution: Constitutions & Society

Posted on Mar 1, 2025 in History

Spanish Constitutions of the 19th Century

  1. 1812 Cádiz: National Sovereignty; Separation of powers; Proclamation of Individual Rights, legal equality; Census suffrage.
  2. 1837 Progressive (Espartero): National Sovereignty; Broad separation of powers; Increased rights; Denominational light; Increased right to vote (not universal suffrage).
  3. 1845 Moderate (Narváez): Shared sovereignty between the Crown and Courts; Rejection of separation of powers, limited individual rights; Catholic confessional state; Census suffrage (High nobility and bourgeoisie).
  4. 1869 1st Democratic: National sovereignty (full); Complete separation of powers; Extension of individual rights; Universal male suffrage.
  5. 1876 Liberal and Conservative: Shared sovereignty between the King and Courts; Bicameral Legislature; Increased rights and freedoms, religious freedom, Catholic state; Census suffrage.

Industrial Revolution in Spain

Problems: Poor communication network, economic strategy anchored in agriculture, lack of an entrepreneurial capitalist mindset, political instability.

Social Classes in 19th-Century Spain

  • Nobility: Maintained economic power based on agricultural wealth and the purchase of disentailed goods.
  • Church: 1851 Concordat: Irreversible character of disentailments, financial arrangement, and key role in the education sector.
  • Bourgeoisie: Leading the liberal revolutionary process and social position. Economy of Industrial Property (mining, commercial, agricultural).
  • Peasants: Most numerous group, harmed by depreciation, 70% illiteracy, Anarchism, Laborers.
  • Proletariat: Increased with the pace of industrialization, lived in the suburbs, came from crafts, rural exodus. Marxist, poor living conditions, poor culture.

Key Events and Periods

1898 Crisis

Liberal Government of Sagasta, Regency of María Cristina, 1869 Constitution. New Laws: Universal male suffrage; Jury Act, Act on Associations; Legalization of parties and unions. Implications: Territorial, Prestige, Economic, and Political.

Statute of Bayonne

Economic and political freedom for the people (free market, freedom of ideas), Cortes (political participation), Abolition of ecclesiastical and manorial rights; New territorial distribution (Protectorate).

Regency Council

(British and popular guerrilla support). Treaty of Valençay.

Cortes of Cádiz

Liberals enacted laws, ending the Old Regime, suppressing seignorialism, the Inquisition, and guilds. Constitution of 1812.

Fernando VII

First Six-Year Period (absolute). Liberal Triennium (constitutional monarchy, universal suffrage, and free market). Absolutist Decade.

Isabel II

Carlists (middle and lower nobility, clergy, and peasantry) vs. Elizabethans (Progressives and Liberals) (high nobility, bourgeoisie, and workers). Moderate Decade 1844-1854; Progressive Biennium 1854-1856; 1856-1868 Moderate governments; Pact of Ostend (Progressives, Unionists, and Democrats).

Sexenio Democrático (Six-Year Democratic Period)

The Glorious Revolution September 1868: Statement of support from Prim, Topete, and Serrano, and signatories of the Pact of Ostend. 1st democratic constitution of 1869. Support from the democratic bourgeoisie and urban proletariat. Political Groups: Absolute/Carlist; Moderate/Alphonso and Progressive Unionists, Federal Republicans. Constituent Cortes. 1871-1873: Amadeo I. 1868-1871: 1st Republic. 1873-1874: Dictatorship of General Serrano (Pronouncement of Pavia).

Restoration (Alfonso XII)

Pronouncement of Martínez Campos. Political groups: Liberals (Sagasta, Progressive), Conservatives (Cánovas, Moderate). The *turnismo* (alternating power) of Cánovas del Castillo. *Caciquismo* (political bossism). 1876 Constitution. Congress; Senate. 1891: Universal Suffrage: Large taxpayers, officials of the church and state. Royal Appointment.