Today Spain will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its first constitution — the Constitution of 1812, also known as the Constitution of Cadiz. This Constitution was also the first constitution in effect in Florida and in our town, which were Spanish at that time. The Constitution Monument in St. Augustine’s Plaza commemorates this document.
The constitution was signed by delegates to the National Assembly (Cortes) on March 18, 1812, in the Spanish city of Cadiz, a port on the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern Spain. The next day the document was made public. The original document was signed by 184 people, with 52 of them from Spain’s overseas territories.
Residents of Spanish St. Augustine probably heard the news of the constitution in August of that year. Official notification had to travel from Spain to Havana, Cuba, and then to our town.
The online Cadiz newspaper, Diario de Cadiz (Cadiz Daily), reported that the manuscript of the Constitution of 1812 had been transferred to Cadiz from its repository in Madrid. A convoy carried the Constitution to the town where it was written to be displayed to the public. A police escort on the ground and a police helicopter provided protection.
On Oct. 17, 1812, the residents of St. Augustine celebrated the promulgation of the constitution with a parade. The “book of the constitution” was read aloud from platforms built at three locations — first in the plaza, then at St. Francis Barrack (today’s Florida National Guard Headquarters) and last at the City Gate.
After each reading, bells rang and troops fired salutes. The procession around our town to introduce and commemorate the constitution ended at the plaza in front of the parish church.
Following the parade, the governor provided a “splendid refreshment” at Government House. The report of ceremonies does not detail whether the entire Constitution was read to the public or just the introductory sections. The constitution contains 384 articles. If the complete document was recited at each stop, we can be sure that all participants were more than ready for the “splendid refreshment” at the end of the parade.