Notes to serve history

In Notes to serve the history of the origin of the army destined to Overseas on January 1, 1820 Antonio María Alcalá Galiano analyzes some of the main events of the so-called Liberal Triennium.
Alcalá Galiano was a key protagonist witness of the events described in this book. In 1819, an army was assembled in Andalusia to put down the uprising of the Spanish colonies in America. At that time, Colonel Rafael del Riego, proclaimed the restitution of the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812, reaffirming the liberal character of the movement.
Riego was raised in the Sevillian town of Las Cabezas de San Juan on January 1, 1820. There he read the following proclamation, written by Antonio María Alcalá Galiano himself:

Spain is living at the mercy of an arbitrary and absolute power, exercised without the slightest respect for the fundamental laws of the Nation. The King, who owes his throne to those who fought in the War of Independence, has not, however, sworn the Constitution, a pact between the Monarch and the people, the foundation and embodiment of every modern nation. The Spanish Constitution, just and liberal, has been elaborated in Cádiz, between blood and suffering. But the King has not sworn it and it is necessary, for Spain to be saved, that the King swear and respect that Constitution of 1812, legitimate and civil affirmation of the rights and duties of the Spaniards, of all Spaniards, from the King to the last farmer (…)
Yes, yes, soldiers; the Constitution. Long live the Constitution!

After the proclamation, the uprisings in Galicia followed and the Constitution of 1812 was proclaimed in La Coruña, Ferrol and Vigo. On March 7, 1820, the Royal Palace of Madrid was surrounded by a crowd. Late at night, the king decided to sign a decree in which he proclaimed his decision, in accordance with “the general will of the people”, to swear the Constitution of Cádiz.
Thus, on the 10th of that same month, the Manifesto of the King to the Spanish Nation was published in which he showed his support for said constitution, beginning the Liberal Triennium. In Notes to serve history, Antonio María Alcalá Galiano studies these events, which had enormous relevance for the path they traced to the future defenders of a constitutionalist Spain.

Reference edition: Madrid, Editorial Atlas, 1955.