THE CONSTITUTION OF 1812 AND THE FIRST SPANISH LIBERALISM

Abstract

Th is work off ers a concise overview of the origins of Spanish constitutionalism, from the French invasion of 1808 to the end of the Liberal Triennium in 1823. After some preliminary considerations on the afrancesados and the Bayonne Statute, we look at three trends emerging within the Cadiz Cortes and the constitutional models which inspired them. We then discuss the two core principles of the 1812 Constitution —national sovereignty and the division of powers— and the form of government arising from them, without forgetting those rights recognized in its articles. Th e next two sections are concerned with the restoration of absolutism in May 1814 and the frustrated constitutional venture that took place between 1820 and 1823, a period in which the international scope of the restored Constitution reached its zenith.