November 17, 2022

Parties, movements, and coalitions

Moderates. A political trend that was at the center of that time. It was the one that had the most followers from the beginning in the recently established congress. With less radical ideas than the exalted, they sought to compromise with the Spanish Crown, rather than definitely separate from it. They saw independence as the instance that would allow greater flexibility on the part of the crown, and lead to the implementation of reforms, greater commercial freedom, and fewer restrictions.

History

origins

This trend was the one that had the greatest supporters from the beginning in the recently established congress.

The acceptance of these ideas was related to the fact that they meant “an intermediate situation between the two extremes – Exalted and Royalists -, the moderates did not seek any change in the colonial regime prevailing in Chile, but only promoted some reforms” . The moderates were equidistant from the colonial regime and from the new state of affairs preached by the exalted, “they sought, in short, reconciliation with the past, obtaining in exchange a certain autonomy under a national or Creole Constitution”.

For this faction, the independence revolution had no other meaning than being an opportunity for the creation of a new organization, which was politically less limiting and restrictive than the one in force up to that moment -that of the Spanish crown- but in no way case, they sought to consolidate a radically opposed order.

In summary, this group did not intend to break with “the traditions of the past, nor did it propose reforms that would tend to undermine the order in which the Colonial regime rested, (…), what is more, “as more than one historian has observed, its members would have been willing to remain linked to Spain as long as some more or less important reforms were organized for them, among which were free trade and the right to elect deputies to the courts of Spain” ^{[3 ]} ; What was really intended with the revolution that began in 1810, was to be able to provide the country with a less rigid political regime than the prevailing one, in short, to create a moderate government, “in which the native had equal rights with the peninsular”

referential sources

general bibliography

Courteous, Leah; Fuentes, Jordi (1967) Political Dictionary of Chile: (1810-1966). Orbe, Santiago: Americalee, Buenos Aires. Available at http://catalogo.bcn.cl/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&term=46102
Avaria Valencia, Luis (1951) Annals of the Republic. Editorial Andres Bello, Santiago, Chile. Available at http://catalogo.bcn.cl/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&term=17500