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The Spanish Republic (Spanish: República Española), historiographically referred to as the First Spanish Republic (Spanish: Primera República), was the political regime that existed in Spain from 11 February 1873 to 29 December 1874.
The Republic's founding ensued after the abdication of King Amadeo on 10 February 1873. On the next day a republic was proclaimed by a parliamentary majority made up of radicals, republicans and democrats. The period was beset by tensions between federal republicans and unitarian republicans. The period also saw the end of compulsory conscription, the regulation of child labor and the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico. The government inherited a state of war, the so-called Third Carlist War, ongoing since 1872, and the Ten Years' War, ongoing since 1868, to which the Cantonal rebellion added up in 1873.
The January 1874 coup of Pavía ousted the government, giving way to a praetorian republic under
Bourbon Restoration
.
Overview
The Constituent
Carlist War
.
The first republican attempt in the history of Spain was a short experience, characterized by profound political and social instability and violence. The Republic was governed by four distinct presidents—
Manuel Pavía led a coup d'état and established a unified republic dominated by Francisco Serrano
.
The period was marked by three simultaneous civil wars: the
Cantonal Revolution, the Petroleum Revolution in Alcoy; and by the Ten Years' War in Cuba. The gravest problems for the consolidation of the regime were the lack of true republicans, their division between federalists and unitarians, and the lack of popular support. Subversion in the army, a series of local cantonalist risings, instability in Barcelona, failed anti-federalist coups, calls for revolution by the International Workingmen's Association
, the lack of any broad political legitimacy, and personal in-fighting among the republican leadership all further weakened the republic.
The Republic effectively ended on 3 January 1874, when the
Captain General of Madrid, Manuel Pavía, pronounced against the federalist government and called on all parties except Federalists and Carlists to form a national government.[clarification needed] The monarchists and Republicans refused, leaving the unitary Radicals and Constitutionalists as the only group willing to govern; again a narrow political base. General Francisco Serrano
formed a new government and was appointed President of the Republic although it was a mere formality since the Cortes had been dissolved.
This period of the Republic lasted until Brigadier Arsenio Martínez Campos pronounced for Alfonso in Sagunto on 29 December 1874 and the rest of the army refused to act against him. The government collapsed, leading to the end of the republic and the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy with the proclamation of Alfonso XII as king.
Proclamation of the Republic
King
Isabella II
, the many republican insurrections and the division among his own supporters.
The
Francisco Pi y Margall
moved the following proposal: "The National Assembly assumes powers and declares the Republic as the form of government, leaving its organization to the Constituent Cortes."
In his speech for the proposal (to which he was a signatory, along with Figueras, Salmerón, and other opponents), Pi y Margall—himself a federalist—renounced for the moment to establish a federal republic, hoping the would-be-assembled Constituent Cortes to decide over the issue, and announced his acceptance of any other democratic decision. Then another republican, Emilio Castelar, took the floor and said:
Sirs,
Isabella II; democratic monarchy with the abdication of don Amadeo of Savoy; nobody has done away with it, it has died on its own; nobody brings the Republic, save all circumstances, a cabal
of society, nature and history. Sirs, let us greet it like the sun rising with its own strength on the sky of our nation.
After Castelar's powerful speech, amidst passionate applause, the Republic was declared with a resignation of the monarchists, with 258 votes in favour and only 32 against: "The National Assembly assumes all powers and declares the Republic as the form of government of Spain, leaving its organization to the Constituent Cortes. An Executive Power shall be elected directly by the Cortes, and it shall be responsible to the same."
In the same session, the first government of the Republic was elected. Federal republican Estanislao Figueras was elected the first "President of the Executive Power", an office incorporating the heads of State and Government. No "President of the Republic" was ever elected, as the Constitution creating such office was never enacted. In his speech, Figueras said that the Republic "was like a rainbow of peace and harmony of all Spaniards of good will."
The passage of these resolutions surprised and stunned most Spaniards, as the recently elected Cortes (now National Assembly) had a wide majority of monarchists. Ruiz Zorrilla spoke in these terms: "I protest and will keep doing so, even if I'm left on my own, against those representatives that having come to the Cortes as constitutional monarchists feel themselves authorized to make the decision to turn the nation from monarchist to republican overnight."
For most monarchists, though, the impossibility of restoring
Alfonso XII
made the Republic the only, though transitory, viable course of action, particularly given the inevitable failure that awaited it.
Figueras government
The first government of the Republic was formed of federalists and progressives who had been ministers during the monarchy. Four ministers, in particular, had served with King Amadeo: Echegaray (Finance), Becerra (War), Fernández de Córdoba (Navy) and Berenguer (Infrastructure).
At the beginning, they were plagued by a terrible economic situation, with a 546M
demonstrations
, protest rallies and the occupation of abandoned lands.
On 23 February the newly elected Speaker of the National Assembly, radical
Congress of Deputies, in order to establish a unitary republic. This prompted the first remodeling of the government in which the progressives were ousted and replaced with federalists. Twelve days after the establishment of the Republic, compulsory military service
was removed and voluntary service set up with a daily salary of 1 peseta and one crust (loaf?) of bread. A Republican volunteers corps was also established with an enlistment salary of 50 pesetas and a daily salary of 2 pesetas and 1 crust of bread.
The second Figueras government had to face the attempt of proclamation of the Estat Català inside the Spanish Federal Republic on 9 March which was overcome by a series of telegraphic contacts between the government and the Catalan leaders. On 23 April a new coup attempt was set in motion; this time by a collusion of alfonsino monarchists, members of the old Liberal Union and monarchic sectors of the Army; but failed when several units refrained from supporting it at the last hour.
Captain General
for Madrid, he ordered Brigadier Carmona and a battalion of infantry and various artillery and cavalry units, to march on the militiamen. The coup d'état failed as soon as it started, and the government dissolved the military units participating and the Permanent Committee of the Assembly.
The writs were issued for Constituent Cortes elections on 10 May which resulted 343 seats for federal republicans and 31 for the rest of the political forces. The elections themselves developed in a quite unorthodox environment, and the resulting representation was ridiculous, as most factions in Spain did not participate: the Carlists were still waging war against the Republic, while the alfonsino monarchists of
. The result was clearly favourable to the federal republicans, which captured 343 of the 371 seats, but turnout was probably the lowest in Spanish history, with about 28% in Catalonia and 25% in Madrid.
The Federal Republic
On 1 June 1873 the first session of the Constituent Cortes was opened and the presentation of resolutions began. The first one was debated on the seventh of June, written by seven representatives: "First Article. The form of government of the Spanish Nation is the Democratic Federal Republic".
The president, having carried out the Cortes' regulations for the definite approval of proposal of law, arranged to hold a nominal vote the next day. The resolution was passed 8 June by a favorable vote of 219 representatives and only 2 against, and the Federal Republic was thus declared. Most of the federalists in parliament supported a Swiss-like confederative model, with regions directly forming independent cantons. Spanish writer Benito Pérez Galdós, aged 21 at the time, wrote about the parliamentary atmosphere of the First Republic:
The sessions of the Constituent (Cortes) attracted me, and most afternoons I spent in the press box, enjoying the spectacle of indescribable confusion cast by the fathers of the country. An endless individualism, the coming and going of opinions, from the most thought-out to the most extravagant, and the deadly spontaneity of most speakers, drove the spectator crazy and rendered the historic functions impossible. Days and nights went by without the Cortes deciding how the ministers should be appointed: if they would individually elected by a vote of each representative, or if it would be better to authorize Figueras or Pi to come up with a list of the new government. Each and every system was agreed on and later scrapped. It was a puerile game, which would have caused laughter if it had not been deeply sad.
The situation reached such levels of
Parque del Buen Retiro and, without telling anyone, boarded the first train departing from the Atocha Station. He would only step down upon arriving in Paris
The procedure — there's no reason to hide it — was openly the reverse of the past: the result could be the same. The provinces had to be represented in the new Cortes, and if they had any concrete idea on the limits over the powers of the future states, they could take it to the Cortes and defend it there. As the
delimitation
of the powers of the provinces would have also determined that of the state, the delimitation of the central power would determine that of the provinces. One way or another could have, without any doubt, produced the same constitution and it would not have been, in my opinion, neither patriotic nor political, to ensnare the proclamation of the Republic due to intransigence over this point.
Even though the "bottom to top" procedure was more logical and proper of a Federation, the other, "top to bottom" was more likely for an already-formed nation like ours, and less dangerous in its implementation. There would be no cessation of continuity in power; the life of the nation would not be suspended for a single moment; there would be no fear of deep conflicts arising between the provinces; it would be the easiest, fastest, safest way and the less exposed to contrariety...
"
—Francisco Pi y Margall
After Figueras' flight to France, the
Constitution
and some social character-related bills:
Apportionment of
disamortized lands among lessees, settlers and aparceros.[b]
}
Reestablishment of the regular Army, with mandatory conscription.
Separation of Church and State, which had been deeply intertwined under
Isabella II
.
Abolition of
child labor
.
Establishment of a system ensuring free and compulsory education.
Legalization of the right of
8 hours
work day.
On 16 June a 25-member Committee was set up by the Cortes to study the draft
First International, the police fired to the gathered workers who responded by taking up arms and gaining control of the city.[1] These events became known as the Petroleum Revolution