La PEPA. The Spanish Constitution of 1812´s bicentenary

The Spanish Constitution was promulgated 19 March 1812 by the Cádiz Cortes, the national legislative assembly of Spain.

This Constitution, one of the most liberal of its time, was effectively Spain´s first, given that the Bayonne Statute issued in 1808 under Joseph Bonaparte, never went into effect.

The 1812 Constitution established the principles of universal male suffrage, national soverignity, constitutional monarchy and freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise.

The Spaniards nicknamed the Constitution, La Pepa, because it was adopted on Saint Joseph´s Day.

The Constitution of 1812 is regarded as the founding document of liberalism in Spain and one of the first examples of classical liberalism or conservative liberalism worldwide.

As the principal  aim of the new Constitution was the prevention of arbitrary and corrupt royal rule, it provided for a limited monarchy which  governed through ministers subject to parliamentary control.

Six weeks after Ferndinand VII´s return to Spain on 24 March 1814, he abolished the Constitution, but it was reinstated since 1820 to 1823, and again briefly in 1836 and 1837.From 1812 to 1814, the Constitution was never really fully in effect, due to the fact that much of Spain was ruled by the French.

Source: Wikipedia

Task:

By the way, why don´t we revise some vocabulary from the text?

legislative assembly / male suffrage / soverignity /constitutional monarchy /freedom of the press /land reform /free enterprise /founding document /liberalism /ministers /

parliamentary control

Verbs: to promulgate, to rule, to reinstate,to abolish.