The Bourbon Restoration and the Canovist System (1875-1902)

1. The Return of the Bourbons

Following the Coup of Pavia, General Serrano served as dictator. To prepare for the return of Alfonso XII, Martínez Campos stepped forward and proclaimed him as the ruler. The King arrived on January 9, 1875, with three primary government objectives:

• Adapt the system to eliminate the political measures of the Sexenio.
• Develop new policies.
• Pacify the environment by ending the Carlist War and the insurrection in Cuba.

Cánovas was ratified in the government by the King and took the following steps:

• Substitution of officials related to the previous regime.
• Closure of most Democratic and Republican newspapers.
• Maintenance of order at all costs.
• Implementation of procedures to judge corporate crime.
• Removal of civil marriage and the jury system in trials.
• Resetting the Concordat with the Holy See.

With Alfonso XII and Cánovas, a new phase of the Restoration began; while the Bourbons were restored to the throne, the political system was entirely new.

2. The Canovist System and the Constitution of 1876

The Restoration system was the brainchild of Cánovas del Castillo. His core ideas included:

• The fundamental importance of harmonious discussion.
• The belief that politics is the art of the possible.
• Systems must adapt to each country and the circumstances of the moment.

Cánovas established a set of "rules of the game" based on liberty, property, the monarchy, the dynasty, and the sovereignty of the King in the courts. To ensure stability, he required the government and the opposition to accept these rules and act within the law, avoiding violence to achieve power.

The Turnismo System

To maintain this balance, Cánovas created the Conservative Party and found an ally in Sagasta, who formed the Liberal Party. Both parties agreed to take turns in power through elections, which were won by the party designated to govern. The system relied on:

• Caciquismo: The "chief" acted as an intermediary between the parties and the people, securing votes through promises.
• Electoral Corruption: The system functioned through the manipulation of electoral lists.

This Canovist system ended the turmoil Spain had experienced since 1808. While the Liberal and Conservative parties differed, Sagasta initiated timid reforms to end restrictions on freedom of expression, whereas the Conservatives were characterized by harsher repression and strict press control. The system began to crumble at the end of the century due to the introduction of universal suffrage and the emergence of parties outside the turnismo.