The Liberal Revolution of 1820: Script of an Unfinished Revolution

Abstract

Beginning in Porto, Portugal, on August 24, 1820, the Liberal Revolution followed a set of programmatic guidelines defined by its main mentors and driving forces. It was based on a script that consisted of a remarkable set of proclamations manifestos, and official letters published between the first military declaration in Porto and entry into force of the Governmental Junta and the Preparatory Junta to convene the Cortes (October 1st, 1820). In the following period until the creation of the Constituent Cortes, and throughout the parliamentary preparatory work for the Constitution, the difficulty of bringing the collapse of the economic and social structures of the Old Regime to its final conclusion became evident. The political-constitutional advances achieved were not accompanied by equivalent change and reform of property and taxation structures. The revolution remained unfinished and would be abruptly interrupted. Could there have been another outcome? This paper discusses - based on printed sources that have yet to be sufficiently explored and are methodologically framed as a guide or script of the process that began in August 1820 - how the political conditions that made possible the success of the revolution at the constitutional level were also those that made its full completion impossible in other spheres throughout the period 1820 to 1823 (Vintism).