Democratic Party (Spain)

The Democratic Party (Spanish: Partido Democrático) was a Spanish political party in the reign of Isabella II (reigned 1833–1868), being a clandestine force except during the Progressive Biennium (1854–1856).

In 1849, a left-wing of the progressives established the Democratic Party as a rally of radical liberals and moderate socialists which did not accept the political system of Queen Isabella and called for the full application of the Constitution of 1812. Its main leaders were Francisco Pi y Margall and Cristino Martos.

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1868, which deposed Queen Isabella, the party disintegrated due to conflicts between its different factions. The cimbrios, led by Martos, accepted the democratic monarchy of King Amadeo I, and joined the Radical Democratic Party of Manuel Ruiz Zorrilla. On the other side, the republican faction led by Pi y Margall approached the incipient Spanish labour movement and the Catalan independentists to form the Federal Republican Party.

See also

• Parties and factions in Isabelline Spain
• Liberalism and radicalism in Spain

References

• Charles J. Esdaile, Spain in the Liberal Age: From Constitution to Civil War, 1808–1939, Blackwell (2000), ISBN 0-631-14988-0.
• Historia de España, Vicens Vives, 2009, ISBN 978-84-316-9037-3