Spanish Constitution of 1812

The Spanish Constitution of 1812 was established on 19 March 1812 by the Cádiz Cortes, that was the first national sovereign assembly (Cortes Generales "General Courts") of Spain, while in refuge from the Peninsular War. This constitution, one of the most liberal of its time, was effectively Spain's first (see Constitutions of Spain), given that the Bayonne Statute issued in 1808 under Joseph Bonaparte never went into effect. It established the principles of universal male suffrage, national sovereignty, constitutional monarchy and freedom of the press, and supported land reform and free enterprise.

Six weeks after Ferdinand VII's return to Spain on 24 March 1814, he abolished the constitution and had all monuments to it torn down, except the one in Saint Augustine, Florida, which still stands. The constitution was reinstated during the Trienio Liberal of 1820–1823, and again briefly in 1836 and 1837 while the Progressives prepared the Constitution of 1837. From 1812 to 1814, the Constitution was never really fully in effect: much of Spain was ruled by the French, while the rest was in the hands of interim junta governments focused on resistance to the Bonapartes rather than on the immediate establishment of a constitutional regime. In the overseas territories many did not recognize the legitimacy of the interim metropolitan governments, leading to a power vacuum and the establishment of separate juntas in these areas.

The Spaniards nicknamed the Constitution La Pepa because it was adopted on Saint Joseph's Day.