Abstract
This article aims to analyze how the deputies gathered in the Cortes de Cádiz, from 1810 to 1814, perceived the conformation of the new political body that, from that moment on, was to legislate on Spain and its extinguished colonies, which were already an integral part of the monarchy. I am interested in emphasizing the role played by ethnicity at the moment of establishing who were in conditions to be considered citizens, within the constitutional project of 1812, and who were not. With this objective in mind, it is important to specify and highlight which were the arguments that were woven around the visibly restricted participation of the Indians and, above all, of the "castes." The limited scope of their action is a reflection of the political culture of those who, despite their declared liberal tendency, could not shake off the racial prejudices they carried with them from the colonial experience, where Indians and "castes" had been systematically postponed from a high political representation.
