Moderate Party (Spain)

<h2 id="trajectory">Trajectory</h2>
<p>The "moderates" or "liberal moderates" were a continuation of the <i>doceañistas</i>, supporters of the <a href="/facts/Spanish_Constitution_of_1812/lcHP1dKj">Spanish Constitution of 1812</a> during the <i><a href="/facts/Trienio_Liberal/AGy9pX0N">Trienio Liberal</a></i> ("liberal triennium") of 1820–1823, as opposed to the more radical <i>exaltados</i> or <i>veinteañistas</i>. In the last years of the reign of  <a href="/facts/Ferdinand_VII_of_Spain/Qdy7HS7U">Ferdinand VII</a> they had effected a mutual drawing together with the least <a href="/facts/Absolute_monarchy/bw15yYtX">absolutist</a> elements of his government. Upon the death of Ferdinand, they supported the royal claim of  the king's only child, the three-year-old Isabel, under the <a href="/facts/Regent/K0JDrJ6K">regency</a> of <a href="/facts/Queen_mother/VpUT4APK">queen mother</a> <a href="/facts/Maria_Christina_of_the_Two_Sicilies/zW4NqvMa">Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies</a>. In contrast, the Carlists supported a strongly absolutist monarchy, essentially a continuation of the <i><a href="/facts/Antiguo_R%C3%A9gimen/4pCsWuFK">Antiguo Régimen</a></i>, under the <a href="/facts/Infante_Carlos,_Count_of_Molina/Fod82KyR">Infante Carlos, Count of Molina</a>.
</p><p>The party was organized in 1834 during the <a href="/facts/Prime_Minister_of_Spain/0XeMxspq">governmental presidency</a> of <a href="/facts/Francisco_Mart%C3%ADnez_de_la_Rosa/MpxA8Ryl">Francisco Martínez de la Rosa</a>. After several years of progressivist domination, it held power continuously during the so-called <i><a href="/facts/D%C3%A9cada_moderada/MPdI6SGD">Década moderada</a></i> ("Moderate decade", 1843–1854) under the leadership of General <a href="/facts/Ram%C3%B3n_Mar%C3%ADa_Narv%C3%A1ez/RfdnaWR0">Ramón María Narváez</a>; after the <i><a href="/facts/Bienio_progresista/cP6uJHkI">bienio progresista</a></i> ("progressivist biennium", 1853–1855) it returned to power allied with the <a href="/facts/Liberal_Union_(Spain)/bgHvb86K">Liberal Union</a> (<a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>: <i>Unión Liberal</i>). After the <a href="/facts/Glorious_Revolution_(Spain)/VLrgPUWu">Glorious Revolution</a> of 1868 and the <a href="/facts/Spanish_Constitution_of_1869/CGDL4YMF">constitution of 1869</a> they failed to obtain representation in the new <a href="/facts/Cortes_Generales/7ujhC4u7">Cortes</a>, and lost all power. When the monarchy was restored in 1874 following the <a href="/facts/First_Spanish_Republic/uXJkhK1X">First Spanish Republic</a>, they united with the Liberal Union to form the <a href="/facts/Conservative_Party_(Spain)/IAllHvWz">Conservative Party</a> under the direction of <a href="/facts/Antonio_C%C3%A1novas_del_Castillo/XjEa7F0F">Antonio Cánovas del Castillo</a>.
</p>
<h2 id="ideology">Ideology</h2>
<p>The party's political <a href="/facts/Ideology/BWooMbq7">ideology</a> of "<a href="/facts/Moderantism/ognI3PsS">Moderantism</a>" (<a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>: <i>moderantismo</i>) is comparable to British <a href="/facts/Conservatism/2XdCcPzq">conservatism</a> and, especially, to French <a href="/facts/Doctrinaires/YAg2RYdj">doctrinairism</a>, from whom its ideologues (especially <a href="/facts/Juan_Donoso_Cort%C3%A9s/IGcCNa43">Juan Donoso Cortés</a>) took part of their argumentation.
</p><p>Their principal ideas were:
</p>
<ul><li>Strong royal power</li>
<li>Pure <a href="/facts/Capitalism/FbPc6TTw">capitalism</a></li>
<li>Domestic peace</li>
<li>Total <a href="/facts/Centralized_government/yeYl8rYq">centralism</a>, with all power emanating from <a href="/facts/Madrid/B63nL2DB">Madrid</a>.</li></ul>
<h2 id="support">Support</h2>
<p>The Moderate Party was supported  by part of the Army (the moderate <i>espadones</i> such as General Narváez), landowners (a landowning <a href="/facts/Oligarchy/1PjREsee">oligarchy</a> of traditional <a href="/facts/Aristocracy/sohMnhq1">aristocrats</a> and <a href="/facts/Upper_class/RCguRfzS">upper</a> <a href="/facts/Bourgeoisie/Ho3RUrlA">bourgeoisie</a>, especially the large landowners owners, the <i><a href="/facts/Latifundium/7cJTWyvk">latifundistas</a></i> of <a href="/facts/Andalusia/nkw5oWrL">Andalusia</a> and the <a href="/facts/Meseta_Central/jB6Aqk5U">Meseta Central</a>), and a portion of the <a href="/facts/Middle_class/6EUq9Mue">middle class</a> (the so-called <i>gente de orden</i> "people of order"). Economically the party tended to support <a href="/facts/Free_trade/Mg9NLrdw">free trade</a>, allowing the export of agricultural surplus, a policy compatible with the interests of its social base. Electorally, they defended limited <a href="/facts/Suffrage/HFFSpSCG">suffrage</a>, in particular <i>sufragio censitario</i>, "<a href="/facts/Suffrage/HFFSpSCG">census suffrage</a>" that limited the electoral census to the wealthy, only those who owned a certain amount of property or paid a certain amount of taxes.
</p><p>Once <a href="/facts/Carlism/MEW55esE">Carlism</a> had been defeated militarily, the 1839 <a href="/facts/Convention_of_Vergara/VB8h80Mt">Convention of Vergara</a> that put an end to the war allowed some of the more moderate Carlists to join the party or to support it from without. Similarly, after the <a href="/facts/Concordat_of_1851/2pwkqyqf">Concordat of 1851</a> the party gained the support of much of the clergy, although the so-called <i><a href="/facts/Neocat%C3%B3licos/SyYSlvNF">neocatólicos</a></i> ("neo-Catholics") remained outside and still nurtured hopes of a Carlist restoration.
</p>
<h2 id="notes">Notes</h2>

<ul><li>Francisco Cánovas Sánchez and José María Jover Zamora, <i>El Partido Moderado</i>, Centro de Estudios Constitucionales, 1982. <a href="/facts/ISBN_(identifier)/15AdSPa9">ISBN</a> 84-259-0665-2.</li>
<li>Francisco Cánovas Sánchez, "Los generales y el Partido Moderado (1843–1854)]: contribución al estudio de un problema básico de la época isabelina", <i>Revista de la Universidad Complutense</i>, ISSN 0210-7872, Nº. 116, 1979 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Estudio de historia moderna y contemporánea. Homenaje a D. Jesús Pabón III), p. 105-122.</li></ul>
<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Parties_and_factions_in_Isabelline_Spain/rKpdPzrh">Parties and factions in Isabelline Spain</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1"><p>Candil Jiménez, Francisco (2001). "Algunos datos sobre el pensamiento y actividad política de Joaquín Francisco Pacheco". Homenaje al Dr. Marino Barbero Santos: in memoriam. Universidad de Salamanca. p. 115. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
<li id="fn:2"><p>Comellas García-Llera, José Luis (2014). Historia de España contemporánea. Rialp. pp. 185–186. <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li>
</ol>

Moderate Party (Spain) open-in-new

Moderate Party (Spain)