that the rebellion only sought to reform the structure of the state, without ever wanting to break the unity of Spain. Background The proclamation of the Republic On 11 February 1873, the day after the abdication of Amadeo I, the National Assembly proclaimed Spain to be a Republic by 258 votes against 32, but without defining it as unitary or federal, postponing the decision to future Constituent Courts. That same day, the self-proclaimed National Assembly appointed the Federal Republican Estanislao Figueras as president of the republic. His government needed to reestablish the order that was being altered by the federal republicans themselves, who had understood the proclamation of the Republic as a new revolution. Federal republicans seized power by force in many places, where they formed "revolutionary juntas" that did not recognize the government of Figueras, because it was a coalition government with the former monarchists of the Radical Party, and branded the "Republicans of Madrid" as lukewarm. In many villages of Andalusia, the Republic was something so identified with the distribution of land that the peasants demanded the municipalities immediately parcel out the most significant farms in the town ... some of which previously formed part of communal property before confiscation. In almost all places the Republic also identified itself with the abolition of the hated quintas (compulsory military service for young people). Responsible for the task of restoring order was the Minister of the Interior Francisco Pi y Margall, paradoxically the main defender of "pactist" federalism from the bottom-up, which the juntas were putting into practice. Pi achieved the dissolution of the juntas and the replacement of the municipalities that were forcibly suspended, in "a clear proof of his commitment to respect legality even against the wishes of his own supporters", although he maintained the armed republican and old monarchical militias. Pi y Margall also needed to deal twice with the proclamation of a "Catalan State" by the Provincial Deputation of Barcelona, dominated by "intransigent" federal Republicans. First on 12 February, the day after the proclamation of the Republic in Madrid, Pi y Margall managed to convince them to give up by telegrams sent to them from Madrid. The second took place on 8 March, when an attempted coup d'état took place in Madrid, the radicals were trying to prevent the republic from proclaiming itself federal by preventing the convening of the Constituent Courts. This time, the telegrams