The "Ancient Constitution" after Independence (1808–1852)

The expression antigua constitución was frequently used in the Hispanic world at least since the second half of the eighteenth century in a manner similar to the British use of the terms «ancient constitution» or «fundamental law.» Scarcely studied, this political concept is a key to a better understanding of the history of Spanish America during the years that followed the crisis of the monarchy—a long period of instability judged traditionally as an age of anarchy and void of any political norms. On the contrary, the new sovereign, though fragile, governments emerging after independence resorted to a hybrid and ambiguous set of rules and principles, some of them of colonial origin. Ancient statutes such as the Leyes de Indias or the more recent Real Ordenanza de Intendentes coexisted with the new legislation that intended to establish representative regimes.

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