Década moderada facts for kids

The década moderada (pronounced "DEH-kah-thah moh-theh-RAH-thah"), which means "moderate decade," was a special time in the history of Spain. It lasted from May 1844 to July 1854. During these ten years, a group called the Moderate Party was always in charge of the government.

How the Moderates Came to Power

The Moderate Party was a group of liberal politicians, just like the Progressive Party they took over from. However, the Moderates were much more conservative (meaning they liked to keep things traditional) than the Progressives.

The Progressives found it hard to work with the Carlists, who were a group that wanted a different king. But the Moderates were able to get along better with some of the Carlists who had lost the First Carlist War. Thanks to an agreement called the Convention of Vergara, many of these Carlists could now join the government and politics again.

When the Moderate Party, led by General Ramón María Narváez, first took control in May 1844, they had to deal with the Spanish Constitution of 1837. This constitution was made by the Progressives. The Moderates quickly decided to change it to fit their own ideas. They wanted a system that allowed some freedoms but also had a strong centralized government (where power is held in one main place). They also believed in economic liberalism, which meant they wanted more freedom for businesses to grow the country's economy.

What the Moderates Did in Power

When the década moderada began, Queen Isabella II was only 13 years old. Her mother, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, was ruling for her. General Narváez started making many changes to make the monarchy (the system with a king or queen) stronger and to centralize the country.

He made it harder for people to speak freely. He also stopped people from voting for their local town leaders (called municipal officials). And he got rid of the National Militia, which was a group of armed citizens.

In October 1844, to replace the Militia, Narváez created the Civil Guard (called Guardia Civil in Spanish). This is a police force that still exists in Spain today. The way schools were organized was also changed, following ideas from Claudio Moyano.

How Spain Was Organized

The Moderates kept Spain divided into provinces and towns, a system set up by Javier de Burgos in 1833. Each province had a Civil Governor chosen by the central government. This governor then picked the leaders for the towns. This system gave the Moderates a lot of power everywhere in the country.

They wanted things to be orderly. They also respected the fueros, which were special rights given to some provinces. However, some provinces were not happy with the increased control from the central government. For example, there was an event called the Solís Uprising in 1846, which showed this unhappiness.

The Constitution of 1845

The Moderate Party created a new set of rules for Spain called the Spanish Constitution of 1845. Under this constitution, the power to make laws was shared between the Spanish monarchy (the Queen) and the Cortes (the Spanish parliament).

The Cortes had two parts: the Congress of Deputies and the Senate.

• The Congress was elected, but only very rich people could vote. Less than one percent of the population was allowed to vote!
• The Queen chose the members of the Senate, and there was no set number of senators.

Even though the constitution said people had rights like freedom of speech, these rights could be limited by laws made by the Cortes. This meant that wealthy men kept most of the power, and even leaders of the Progressive Party, let alone regular citizens, were left out.

Religion and the Church

The Moderates wanted to fix the problems with the Catholic Church. These problems started because the government had taken away church properties. Many Spanish Catholics felt that the clergy (church leaders) had been unfairly treated. The Holy See (the Pope and the Vatican) had a lot of support from the people against the government on this issue.

Eventually, the government of Bravo Murillo reached an agreement called the Concordat of 1851. In this agreement:

• The Pope accepted that the church properties had been taken.
• The Spanish government promised to support and maintain the Church.
• The government also kept the right to suggest names for new bishops, a right they had from an older agreement in 1753. This meant the government could choose church leaders who agreed with them.

This agreement helped create a time of peace and quiet when it came to religious matters, which was important for the country to be stable.

Economy and Taxes

The Moderates tried to make big changes to the tax system to make it fairer and easier to manage. They got rid of many old, complicated taxes. Finance minister Alejandro Mon and his helper Ramón de Santillán tried to balance the government's budget with a new tax plan called the Spanish tax reform of 1845, also known as the Ley Mon-Santillán ("Mon-Santillán Law").

The original idea for the new tax system was to have a direct income tax on everyone. But this was hard to do because there wasn't good information about people's incomes, and many people tried to avoid paying.

So, they changed to a system of indirect taxation. This meant taxes were added to things people bought, like goods and services. These new taxes affected everyone, no matter how much money they made. This made life harder for regular people and led to many protests. These protests eventually caused a revolution in 1854 called the Vicalvarada. This revolution brought the Progressive Party back to power for a short time, a period known as the bienio progresista ("Progressive Biennium").

See also

In Spanish: Década moderada para niños