Stock Photo - Proclamation of the Catalan State within the Spanish Federal Republic of 1873 and the appearance of the Plaza de Jaime I on February 21. The act was a failed attempt to proclaim the ""Catalan Federated State"" in Barcelona (Spain) on March 9, 1873, about a month after the First Spanish Republic had been proclaimed in Madrid. What the Provincial Council of Barcelona did approve that day, in compensation for its refusal to proclaim the ""Catalan State"" within the ""Spanish Federation"", was the dissolution of the regular Army and its conversion into a voluntary one. The Plaza de Jaime I, where the event took place, was filled with thousands of supporters and up to 40 companies of volunteers formed to defend the plaza. Some of the main political leaders of the time were present, including Francesc Pi i Margall, president of the Constituent Assembly, who gave a speech, unfurled the republican flag and exhibited a plaque with the republican motto ""Liberty, Equality, Fraternity"". The protesters sang the Catalan State anthem, Defense of the Nation, followed by Lo Ratllo, the official anthem of the Spanish Federation, as well as La Marcha de los Libertarios, a Republican dissident anthem. Some people carried banners that read ""For unity and fraternity"", ""Long live Catalonia"" and ""Down with the absolut