Spanish Constitution of 1812

The Spanish Constitution of 1812, formally the Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy and popularly nicknamed La Pepa, was Spain's first constitution and one of the earliest codified constitutions in the world. It was enacted on March 12, 1812 and passed on March 19, 1812 by the Cortes of Cadiz, the first Spanish legislature to represent the entire nation, including Spanish America and the Philippines, and was signed by the Cortes' president, 174 deputies and four secretaries. Structured in 384 articles across ten major chapters, it proclaimed national sovereignty, separated the powers of government, established a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system, guaranteed press freedom and free enterprise, and abolished corporate privileges. It also pioneered a near-universal male suffrage exercised through an indirect electoral mechanism, an unusually progressive step for its time, while still naming Catholicism the sole official religion. The constitution took effect three separate times, in 1812, 1820 and 1836, and was repealed in turn in 1814, 1823 and 1837, shaping Spanish and Spanish American liberalism through the early nineteenth century.