Friday, January 8, 2010: 9:50 AM
Madeleine A (Hyatt)
“Liberalism” first became part of modern political language in during the “War of Independence” against Napoleonic France. In the wake of the Spanish Enlightenment, progressive Spaniards who adopted the name of “liberal” defined the war against Napoleon’s armies as a struggle against tyranny, both foreign and domestic. Without challenging the legitimacy of the Monarchy or Catholicism, they fused the language of patriotism and liberty together to advance a vision of constitutional government, individual rights, and the common good. Jose Maria Blanco White emerged an important political thinker as editor of the liberal journal, Semanario Patriotico, where he defended the ideas of popular sovereignty, representative government, and political liberty. In 1810, Blanco fled to, thinking the war against was lost. He turned out to be mistaken, but nevertheless, continued to write about Spanish politics from his new home. He started his own journal, El Español, where he focused on questions of practical politics and became increasingly critical of the ideas and policies of the Spanish Liberal Party. Blanco believed Spanish Liberals had followed the flawed ideas of the French revolutionaries in constructing the Constitution of Cadiz and believed they should have followed the proven British model of constitutional monarchy instead. He also criticized Spanish Liberals’ failure to recognize religious liberty arguing it contradicted their claim to be acting to advance universal principles of freedom. Blanco believed that Spanish Liberals’ errors would lead to the collapse of constitutional government, and he was proven right in 1814. Despite Blanco’s claims that Spanish Liberals were following the radical path of the French revolutionaries, however, Spanish Liberals also sought to establish a constitutional government that adapted to Spanish culture and society. Blanco’s political writings reveal the diversity of thought and internal tensions within Spanish liberalism.