Last day nine, the original of the Constitution of 1812 , Pepa , returned to Cádiz, the city where it was drafted and promulgated 200 years ago. It was our first Constitution that achieved something that seemed very difficult... putting liberals and absolutists to agree . Thanks to the support of the deputies representing the territories of America, most of whom belonged to the Creole bourgeoisie, the equality of all territories and all Spaniards was recognized:
The Spanish nation is the meeting of Spaniards from both hemispheres
And according to article 5 it was determined who were Spanish:
1. All free men born and living in the dominions of the Spains, and their children.
2. Foreigners who have obtained a certificate of naturalization from the Cortes.
3. Those who have lived ten years without it, won according to the law in any town of the Monarchy.
4. The freedmen since they acquire freedom in the Spains.
Therefore, it included indigenous people, mestizos, brown castes (those who by any line had African descent) and free blacks... only slaves were excluded. So, were all Spaniards equal and did we have the same rights? Almost... In articles 27 and 28 it is determined that the Cortes are the meeting of all the deputies that represent the Nation, appointed by the citizens and whose national representation will be the same in both hemispheres (fixed by the number of inhabitants), but article 22 is the key to the outrage:
[are citizens] To the Spaniards who by any line are known and reputed to originate from Africa [brown castes] , the door of virtue and merit to be citizens remains open for them:consequently, the Courts will grant a citizen's letter to those who render qualified services to the Homeland, or to those who are distinguished by their talent, application and conduct, with the condition that they are children of legitimate marriage of naive [free] parents; that they are married to a naive woman, and reside in the domains of the Spains, and that they exercise some profession, trade or useful industry with their own capital.
Therefore, blacks, mulattoes and zambos had to earn citizenship. Its color represented the stain of slavery… Behind this classist and racist exclusion, political interests were hidden on the part of the peninsular representatives... as the American population was greater than the peninsular, and the election of representatives was proportional to the population, with the elimination of political rights to the brown castes , that non-civilians, the populations and, therefore, the number of representatives were almost equal.
