Page "History of Spain" Paragraph 99

This attempt at the development of a modern constitutional government lasted from 1808 until 1814, and became known as the first bourgeois revolution in Spain.

Leaders of the liberals or reformist forces during this revolution were Jose Menino, Count of Floridablanca, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos and Pedro Rodriguez, Conde de Campomanes.

Born in 1728, Floridablanca was eighty years of age at the time of the revolutionary outbreak in 1808.

He had served as Prime Minister under King Charles III of Spain from 1777 until 1792 ; now he served as President of the Central Junta.

However, he tended to be suspicious of the popular spontaneity.

Consequently, Floridablanca tended to prevent development of the revolution.

Born in 1744, Jovellanos was somewhat younger than Floridablanco.

A writer and follower of the philosophers of the Enlightenment tradition of the previous century, Jovellanos had served as Minister of Justice from 1797 to 1798 under King Charles IV of Spain.

Now, Jovellanos commanded a substantial and influential group within the Central Junta.

However, Jovellanos had been imprisoned by Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, who had served as Prime Minister of Spain and virtually ran the country as a dictator from 1792 until 1798 and from 1801 until 1808.

Accordingly, even Jovellanos tended to be somewhat overly cautious in his approach to the revolutionary upsurge that was sweeping Spain in 1808.