Political confluences in the Liberal Triennium: The process of the Portuguese Revolution of 1820 and the Gaditan constitutional model

Abstract

This article analyses the converging factors of the peninsular political process, from the Napoleonic occupation and invasion of Portuguese territory to the establishment of the 1820 revolution. Three axes structure the understanding of this period: the situation of the two Iberian monarchies during the war and the constitutional dilemma opened up by the absence of Brigantine royalty and the acephaly of the Bourbon crown; the propagandistic purposes and the contacts maintained between Portuguese and Spanish political agents, before and during the Liberal Triennium; the similarity of Iberian constitutional procedures and models, given the specific context of the United Kingdom of Portugal Brazil and the Algarves. From a transnational point of view, the changes that occurred in Portugal and Spain will be analyzed using different sources: diplomatic texts, periodical press, relations of Iberian patriotic societies and, of course, the Constitutions of 1812 and 1822.