The Ominous Decade: Absolutism, Succession, and Spanish American Independence
The Ominous Decade (1823-1833)
Return to absolutism, liberal opposition against terror, economic inefficiency, and pressure from ultra-reactionaries, who formed a right-wing movement against Fernando VII, whose absolutism was considered too moderate.
- Torrijos and Mariana Pineda were sentenced to death. They were liberal activists, processed and executed.
- The so-called “boards of faith” censored and monitored publications for liberal propaganda.
- Restriction of expenditure: Ferdinand distanced himself from more radical absolutists, leading to division within absolutism and increasing friction.
- Staunch absolutists gathered the most intransigent defenders of the Ancien Régime.
- An absolutist guerrilla movement emerged but was suppressed.
- The most radical realists supported Prince Don Carlos: the Carlist movement began.
The Succession Problem
Ferdinand VII had no offspring from his first three marriages. He married his niece, Maria Cristina.
A few months into the pregnancy, to ensure a line of succession, he enforced “The Pragmatic Sanction,” promulgated by his father, which eliminated the Salic law, re-establishing the line of succession by birth order, allowing a woman on the throne.
Carlists protested this as a violation of the rights of the Infante Don Carlos, leading to conflict.
When the Infanta Isabella was born, she was proclaimed heir.
In September 1832, the “events of La Granja” occurred. Ferdinand VII initially suppressed the Pragmatic Sanction but later reinstated it.
Pro-Carlist chief ministers were replaced, and Queen Maria Cristina was authorized to preside over the ministers.
Universities were reopened, and a general amnesty was declared.
Intransigent officials were replaced by those more faithful to Fernando VII. Don Carlos abandoned the court and moved to Portugal.
Fernando VII died in September, marking the end of absolutism and the beginning of the First Carlist War.
Causes of Spanish American Independence
External Factors:
- Influence of the United Kingdom and the United States.
- Economic and military aid from the United States and the United Kingdom to the rebels, aiming to end the Spanish trade monopoly.
- Diffusion of liberal ideology, denying that the lands were the heritage of kings, defending the right of peoples to constitute nations and states.
Internal Factors:
- Awareness of a distinct identity by Hispanic Americans.
- Creole discontent due to important positions being held by Spanish colonists.
- The trade policy requiring Hispanic Americans to trade only with Spain.
Consequences:
- Despite Bolivar’s desire to create a single American nation, numerous countries emerged. This led to border disputes, wars, dictatorial regimes, and underdevelopment.
- For Spain, it was an economic catastrophe, as the Bourbons had revitalized trade with America during the eighteenth century.
- Latin American independence did not signify a historical break between Spain and the new countries.
- Spain could only maintain its former colonial empire in Cuba, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.