The Constitutional Party was one of the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 political parties that contended for power during the reign of Amadeo I

Amadeo I of Spain

Amadeo I was the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy...

 (reigned 1870–1873) and the First Spanish Republic

First Spanish Republic

The First Spanish Republic was the political regime that existed in Spain between the parliamentary proclamation on 11 February 1873 and 29 December 1874 when General Arsenio Martínez-Campos's pronunciamento marked the beginning of the Bourbon Restoration in Spain...

 (1873-1874), opposing the Radical Democratic Party

Radical Democratic Party (Spain)

The Radical Democratic Party was one of the Spanish political parties that contended for power during the reign of Amadeo I and the First Spanish Republic , opposing the Constitutional Party....

.

The party was established in 1871, after the division of the Progressive Party

Progressive Party (Spain)

The Progressive Party was one of the two Spanish political parties that contended for power during the reign of Isabel II . They were to the left of the opposing Moderate Party , but also characterized themselves as liberal...

 following the death of General Juan Prim, 1st Marquis of los Castillejos. The right wing of the party, along with some members of the Liberal Union

Liberal Union (Spain)

The Liberal Union was a political party in Spain in the third quarter of the 19th century. It was founded by Leopoldo O'Donnell in 1858 with the intent of forging a compromise and taking a centrist position between the two forces that had hitherto dominated Spanish politics during the reign of...

 organised themselves as a party under the leadership of General Francisco Serrano, 1st Duke of la Torre and Práxedes Mateo Sagasta

Práxedes Mateo Sagasta

Práxedes Mariano Mateo Sagasta y Escolar was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister on eight occasions between 1870 and 1902—always in charge of the Liberal Party—as part of the turno pacifico, alternating with the Liberal-Conservative leader Antonio Cánovas...

.

The constitutionalists split up in two groups after the 1874 restoration of the monarchy

Spain under the Restoration

The Restoration was the name given to the period that began on December 29, 1874 after the First Spanish Republic ended with the restoration of Alfonso XII to the throne after a coup d'état by Martinez Campos, and ended on April 14, 1931 with the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic.After...

. The right faction of the party, led by Manuel Alonso Martínez

Manuel Alonso Martínez

Manuel Alonso Martínez was a Spanish jurist and politician, and the principal redactor of the Spanish Civil Code of 1888/89.After working as a Burgos attorney, he entered public service in 1854 as a member of the Cortes...

, accepted the new King Alfonso XII

Alfonso XII of Spain

Alfonso XII was king of Spain, reigning from 1874 to 1885, after a coup d'état restored the monarchy and ended the ephemeral First Spanish Republic.-Early life and paternity:Alfonso was the son of Queen Isabella II of Spain, and...

 and the new Constitution, and joined the Liberal-Conservative Party

Liberal-Conservative Party

The Liberal-Conservative Party was the formal name of the Conservative Party of Canada until 1873, although some Conservative candidates continued to run under the label as late as the 1911 election and others ran as simple Conservatives prior to 1873...

 of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo

Antonio Cánovas del Castillo was a Spanish politician and historian known principally for his role in supporting the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy to the Spanish throne and for his death at the hands of an anarchist assassin, Michele Angiolillo.-Early career:Born in Málaga as the son of...

. The rest of the party, headed by Sagasta, remained faithful to the Constitution of 1869 until 1880, when they finally accepted the new one and the turno

Turno

After almost a whole century of political instability and many civil wars, the aim of the Restoration was to ensure political stability in Spain. Under this plan, El Turno Pacífico was a system put in place by Antonio Cánovas del Castillo whereby the two "official" parties of the Cánovas...

system, establishing the Liberal-Fusionist Party

Liberal Party (Spanish Restoration)

The Liberal Party was a Spanish political party created in 1880 by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta. With the Partido Conservador of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo, it formed a bipartite system of alternating governments that characterised the Spanish Restoration during the final part of the 19th century and...

, which contended for power opposing the Liberal-Conservative Party.