The abolition of the representative assemblies in the Basque provinces during the rise of the liberal revolution (1789–1876)

Abstract

Summary The typical estates‐based political assemblies of Latin Europe also developed in the Basque area, but from the sixteenth century onwards, in the coastal area, the Juntas Genrerales acquired a modern dimension precisely because they were not organized into estates. The French Revolution led to the abolition of the Juntas Generales. However, with the exception of the Cortes of Navarre, they survived in the Spanish Basque provinces throughout most of the nineteenth century during alternating periods of royalist and constitutional rule, the Juntas being compatible with the central Spanish parliament. The Juntas Generales became the representative body and the source of legitimation of the foral administrative system and, under absolute monarchy and constitutional government alike, were to all intents and purposes an autonomous administration. With the consolidation of the liberal parliamentary regime, the Juntas began to be thought of as the parliament of the Basques. But in 1876 they were finally sus...