approve a new Constitution. They constituted the largest group of the Chamber, although there were certain differences between the followers of Castelar, who were in favor of the conciliation with the radicals and constitutionalists, and the followers of Salmerón, who advocated that the Republic should only be based on the alliance of "old" republicans. Their favored model was that of France. Despite this division, they had no problem proclaiming the Federal Democratic Republic on 8 June, a week after the Constituent Courts were opened under the presidency of the veteran "intransigent" Republican José María Orense, by 218 votes against two. The opposition of the "intransigents" to the federal governments of Figueras and Pi y Margall As soon as the Constituent Courts next met, Estanislao Figueras returned his powers to the Chamber and proposed that Pi y Margall be appointed to replace him, but the intransigents were opposed to this and got Pi to give up on his attempt at taking power. Figueras then learned that the "intransigent" generals Juan Contreras and Blas Pierrad were preparing a coup d'état to start the federal Republic "from below", outside the Government and the Cortes, which made Figueras fear for his life. On 10 June, Figueras, who was already suffering a severe depression from the death of his wife, fled to France. The attempted coup d'état came the next day when a mass of federal Republicans, instigated by the "intransigents", surrounded the building of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid while General Contreras, commanding the militia of the Volunteers of the Republic, took the Ministry of War. The "moderates" Emilio Castelar and Nicolás Salmerón proposed that Pi and Margall occupy the vacant presidency of the Executive Power as he was the most prestigious leader within the Republican party. "Castelar and Salmerón believed that Pi y Margall, close to the intransigents, who had given them their ideological base and organization, could control and satisfy the parliamentary left through a conciliation cabinet." Finally, the "intransigents" accepted the proposal, although under the condition that it was the Courts that elected the members of the government to preside over Pi y Margall. The government program presented by Pi y Margall to the Cortes was based on the need to end the Third Carlist War, separate Church and State, abolish slavery and pass reforms in favor of working women and children. It also included the return of communal property