Law 19983 on

Godoy tried to move the Spanish royal family to Sevilla in order to protect them from the French troops. This cause a popular revolt in March 1808 known as the Revolt of Aranjuez. This event forced Carlos IV to dismiss Godoy and abdicate in favour of his son, Fernando VII. Finally, in May 1808 Fernando VII and his father Carlos IV were moved to Bayonne in France. There they renounced to the Spanish throne in favour of Napoleon. Napoleon the made his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king. He imposed the Bayonne Constitution (included enlightened reforms: the quality of all citizens before the law and in the payment of taxes). He had Spanish supporters  known as afrancesados. 7.2. The Cadiz Cortes: IN 1810 it was replaced by the Regency Council, which called the Cadiz cortes. It was the first unified ``cortes´´ in which each representative had an individual vote (it was no longer based on the estates system). The deputies were 223 men elected by the Spanish and American provinces. Most of them were clergy, military men, lawyers and merchants. Different groups emerged in the Cortes, based on their political views: -The supporters of Enlightenment ideas (wanted to end the Ancien Regime in Spain and establish a constitutional monarchy with popular sovereignty and the separation of powers. -The absolutists who wanted the king to be restored as an absolute monarch. On March 1812, the Cadiz Cortes approved Spain´s first constitution (The constitution of 1812). It was a victory for the Enlightenment ideas of liberty and equality.