The Democratic Party ( es, Partido Democrático), more formally known as the Democratic Progressive Party, was a Spanish political party in the reign of

Isabella II Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successi ...

(reigned 1833–1868). It was a clandestine organisation except during the ''

Progressive Biennium In the history of Spain, the ''bienio progresista'' (, "Progressive Biennium" or "Progressivist Biennium") was the two-year period from July 1854 to July 1856, during which the Progressive Party attempted to reform the political system of the rei ...

'' (1854–1856). In the 1840s, the parliamentary conservatives of the

Moderate Party The Moderate Party ( sv, Moderata samlingspartiet , ; M), commonly referred to as the Moderates ( ), is a liberal-conservative political party in Sweden. The party generally supports tax cuts, the free market, civil liberties and economic ...

were in power, to the exclusion of the liberals of the centre-left Progressive Party. The Progressive Party's left-wing grew increasingly critical of the Isabelline Monarchy's political regime, feeling the

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of th ...

to be stacked against them. They began to demand a root-and-branch institutional reform, particularly the replacement of electoral property requirements with

universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slo ...

, and the replacement of the sovereignty of the monarch with the principle of popular national sovereignty. In this climate the

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...

broke out across Europe, and the Radical wing of the Progressive Party was particularly impressed by the revolution in France that brought about the Second Republic. These examples pushed the Progressives' left-wing to adopt more hardline political demands incompatible with the existing constitutional monarchy, such as

republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology centered on citizenship in a state organized as a republic. Historically, it emphasises the idea of self-rule and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or oligarchy to popular sovereignty. ...

. In 1849, the left-wing of the

progressives Progressivism holds that it is possible to improve human societies through political action. As a political movement, progressivism seeks to advance the human condition through social reform based on purported advancements in science, techn ...

broke off to form the Democratic Progressive Party, which they considered to be the true heir to Spain's radical and Jacobin liberal tradition. The new party represented an alliance of radical liberals (see Radicalism) and moderate socialists (see

utopian socialism Utopian socialism is the term often used to describe the first current of modern socialism and socialist thought as exemplified by the work of Henri de Saint-Simon, Charles Fourier, Étienne Cabet, and Robert Owen. Utopian socialism is often ...

). Led by Francisco Pi y Margall and Cristino Martos, the Democrats called for an end to the conservative parliamentary monarchy of Queen Isabella, and the full application of the Constitution of 1812. Members of the Democratic Party were involved in a number of attempted insurrections in the 1850s and 1860s, most notably with the Loja Uprising in 1861. Following the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...

of 1868, which deposed Queen Isabella, the party disintegrated due to conflicts between its different factions. * The ''cimbrios'' faction accepted the replacement of the conservative parliamentary monarchy of Isabel II with a more ceremonial monarchy under Amadeo I; known as the cimbrios, they merged with the Radical Democratic Party of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla. * The ''federalist'' faction, led by party leader Pi i Margall, rejected the monarchy entirely, calling for a democratic republic. They sought cooperation with incipient Spanish

labour movement The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other. * The trade union movement ...

and the Catalan independentists, and went on to form the Federal Republican Party.

References

* Charles J. Esdaile, ''Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939'', Blackwell (2000), . *''Historia de España'', Vicens Vives, 2009, {{reflist Defunct political parties in Spain Defunct liberal political parties Political parties established in 1849 Political parties disestablished in 1869 Radical parties Republican parties in Spain 1849 establishments in Spain 1869 disestablishments in Spain

See also

References