Some of the more obvious reasons for the failure of the centralized republican system are now apparent. At no time since the take-over by the centralists in the summer of 1835 had there been any semblance of progress or even stability in the political, social or economic life of the country. Although so far unsuccessful in their ultimate objective of regaining power, the federalist campaigns, both military and political, had served to sustain the general instability and ensured that the new constitution, or Siete Leyes, had no chance of being consolidated. Faced with the relentless pressure from countless pronunciamientos in the regions, added to the Texas disaster and the French blockade, the national government had been forced to give priority to increased expenditure on the military. Additional funds had had to be sought by way of either loans or taxation from the clergy and the hombres de bien in whose interests the regime and the system of government were supposed to have been created. With the exception of the textile industry, where some expansion was taking place, economic activity remained depressed, and with government revenues still in serious deficit, soldiers, public employees, widows, pensioners and all those dependent on the public purse suffered accordingly. No visible improvement had been made in any of the areas of reform which had been promised in the conservative manifesto.