Return to Spain

He obtained an interview with Ferdinand VII, who not only pardoned him, but named him Minister of
Grace and Justice in the royal government. This occurred on 24 June 1816, but on 27 June the Inquisition
brought its case again, accusing Abad y Queipo of being a friend of the insurgents, living an irreligious
life, and holding revolutionary ideas. He was imprisoned two months in the jail of the Inquisition.
[citation needed]

The Spanish revolution of 1820 in which the liberal Spanish Constitution of 1812 was restored and the
crown becoming a constitutional monarchy again created a provisional junta and Abad y Queipo became
a member of the provisional junta.[24] He was charged with overseeing the conduct of King Ferdinand.
Later he was a deputy to the Cortes for the province of Asturias. Even later he was named bishop of
Tortosa, but once again the papal bull confirming his position did not arrive.

In 1824 came the absolutist reaction, after Ferdinand was again restored to the throne. Abad y Queipo
was now old and deaf, but he was imprisoned again, this time in the monastery of Sisla, in Toledo. He
died a prisoner in 1825.[25]

Works and legacy

Nineteenth-century Mexican liberal José María Luis Mora, who republished some of Abad's writings

Many of his writings were published in Semanario Político y Literario (Political and Literary Seminar) and
in Observador de la República Mexicana (Observer of the Mexican Republic), the newspaper that José
María Luis Mora edited. The Colección de escritos más importantes (Collection of the Most Important
Writings) was published in Mexico City in 1813. His "Testamento político" ("Political Testament") was
published in the Historia of Lucas Alamán. An important collection of his writings is Colección de los
escritos mas importantes que en diferentes épocas dirigió al gobierno D. Manual Abad Queipo, obispo
electo de Michoacán.[26] Historian D.A. Brading notes that Abad y Queipo's writing are notable for "the
complete absence of any material dealing with religion".[27]

Humboldt read the writings of Abad y Queipo, and the bishop-elect's observations made their way into
Humboldt's Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain.[28] Abad y Queipo's writings had a significant
impact on Mexican liberalism in the post-independence period, with secular priest and liberal ideologue
Mora reprinting important works, "thereby ensuring their influence over the development of Mexican
radicalism...Abad y Queipo is best regarded as the intellectual progenitor of Mexican Liberalism."[29]