Overview
The Moderate Party or Moderate Liberal Party was one of the two Spanish political parties that contended for power during the reign of Isabel II (reigned 1833–1868). Like the opposing Progressive Party, it characterised itself as liberal and dynasticist; both parties supported Isabel against the claims of the Carlists.
The Moderates contained various factions. Some supported working with Progressives, but others sought closer ties with the Old Regime. However, the party's dominant ideology was adherence to the centrist juste milieu of the French Doctrinaires.
Trajectory
The "moderates" or "liberal moderates" were a continuation of the doceañistas, supporters of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 during the Trienio Liberal ("liberal triennium") of 1820–1823, as opposed to the more radical exaltados or veinteañistas. In the last years of the reign of Ferdinand VII they had effected a mutual drawing together with the least absolutist elements of his government. Upon the death of Ferdinand, they supported the royal claim of the king's only child, the three-year-old Isabel, under the regency of queen mother Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. In contrast, the Carlists supported a strongly absolutist monarchy, essentially a continuation of the Antiguo Régimen, under the Infante Carlos, Count of Molina.
The party was organized in 1834 during the governmental presidency of Francisco Martínez de la Rosa. After several years of progressivist domination, it held power continuously during the so-called Década moderada ("Moderate decade", 1843-1854) under the leadership of General Ramón María Narváez; after the bienio progresista ("progressivist biennium", 1853-1855) it returned to power allied with the Liberal Union. After the Glorious Revolution of 1868 and the constitution of 1869 they failed to obtain representation in the new Cortes, and lost all power. When the monarchy was restored in 1874 following the First Spanish Republic, they united with the Liberal Union to form the Conservative Party under the direction of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.
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