The Constitution Of Cádiz Of 1812 Analysis

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Influenced by the Spanish tradition and the French and American nationalism, the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812 was Spain’s fundamental state laws during the period of the redefinition of sovereignty in Europe. The constitution was established in 1812 by Cádiz Cortes, the first national assembly to declare sovereignty in Spain. The principle of the constitution include the territory of Spain, religion and government, and male suffrage of Spanish citizens. In relation to Gabriel Paquette’s “The Dissolution of the Spanish Atlantic Monarchy” and Jeremy Adelman’s “Iberian Passages: Continuity and Changes in the South Atlantic”, the effects that the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812 had in the world during the time period that these readings are based …show more content…
In a letter to Alexander I of Russia, Ferdinand VII wrote ‘The constitution formed at Cádiz, and the revolution made in Spain, were the work of the machinations of those who desired to separate the Americas from the metropolis. ’ (Paquette, 199). Since the Constitution lacked ‘universal policy for America’, naturally in a colonized land, the citizens of Spanish America did not receive the equal rights as the people in Spain. “Both Americans and peninsular deputies ‘employed the concept of ‘‘nation’’ in mystifying ways, endowing it with different significances” the distance played a huge role in the interpretations of the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812. The group of people that suffered from the colonization as well as the Cádiz Constitution of 1812 were the Indian tributes, they were declared to be abolished, this law was imposed in Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia in the 1820’s. In terms of national identity, Spanish America forged it during the independence struggle. “Spanish American ‘elites dedicated themselves to creating that discursive infrastructure of nationhood only after independence was won’.” (Paquette, 202). After the restoration of Ferdinand the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812 was no longer needed, but it left a great effect on the liberal movement within the very traditional country of Spain as well as Spanish

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