The fall of the first emperor

According to historian Emília Viotti da Costa, the structure which came to be as a result of Brazil's independence led to the organization of a political system that placed the municipalities dependant on the provinces and these on the central power; Costa also remarked that:^[2]

"A system of indirect elections based on qualified (census) suffrage, which excluded most of the population from the electoral process, was adopted. They eagerly disputed titles of nobility and monopolized positions in the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, the Council of State and the Ministries".

Pedro II, aged 4, 1830

The "Council of State" implemented the Moderating Power instituted by emperor Pedro I when he dissolved the Constituent Assembly that was tasked with drafting Brazil's first constitution right after its independence from Portugal. The Council of State was formed by lifetime members, which were appointed by the monarch and no more than ten in number. Their function was to be heard "in all serious and general measures of public administration, especially concerning the declaration of war, peace negotiations, negotiations with foreign nations, as well as on all occasions when the Emperor proposed to exercise any of the prerogatives of the Moderating Power" - and to which the liberals were strongly opposed.^[3]

The 1830 revolutions across Europe, which resulted in the overthrow of the French monarch Charles X, spread its liberal ideas to other nations, including Brazil. Liberal newspapers such as Aurora Fluminense, published by Evaristo da Veiga in Rio de Janeiro, started to appear in the country; in São Paulo, the death of liberal journalist Líbero Badaró severely steered public opinion against the emperor.^[4]

The liberals, divided between the "moderate" and the "exalted", sought Pedro I to secure a moderate ministry and disconnect it from the institutional framework inherited from his father, king John VI. They were opposed by the restorers, who defended its permanence. The emperor had made a trip to Minas Gerais, where he was received with apathy; upon returning to the court, he was received by the local Portuguese community in Rio de Janeiro with a nighttime demonstration of luminaries. The Brazilians reacted and the conflict known as the Night of the Bottle Fight took place. The emperor then dismissed all the ministers, which were of a moderate leaning, and replaced them with others that were perceived as absolutist; this inflamed public opinion even more against him.^[4]

Pedro I's reaction as a result of the popular unrest and the events that followed caused surprise even among the exalted liberals, as the emperor decided to abdicate in favor of his son at dawn on 7 April 1831. His opponents only wanted the restoration of the moderate ministry. The abdication led to the establishment of the regency.^[4]

The liberal reform: limitations to the Moderating Power

Among the first measures that the liberal majority proposed was to reform the legislation that regulated the regency itself. This amendment was drafted by deputies Francisco de Paula Sousa e Melo, the regent Costa Carvalho, and Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão,^{[lower-alpha 2]} from Minas Gerais, and aimed at increasing the primacy of the Legislative branch over the Executive.^[13]

Through the reform, the moderating power came to be exercised by the regency itself, through the minister who was invested with such power, and its prerogatives were further reduced. Unlike when it was first instituted by emperor Pedro I, the prerogative to dismiss the Chamber of Deputies was removed, although this was already included in the changes made during the provisional regency, which also could not grant noble titles or decorations.^[5]

Creation of the National Guard

Flag of the National Guard in the province of São Paulo

One of the innovations instituted by the permanent regency was the creation of the National Guard, already in 1831. This military force relegated the Imperiral Brazilian Army to a secondary role and constituted the main public force with which the central power would seek to contain the riots that broke out. Its structure was based on the provinces, and it was subordinated to the provincial governments: first, the guard was linked to the jurisdiction of the justice of the peace, who was in charge of enlistment; after these it was subordinated to the criminal judges, to the presidents of the provinces and, finally, to the Minister of Justice.^[13]

All citizens between the ages of 21 and 60 who were eligible to vote were required to enlist; it was up to the government to supply them with weapons, but the uniforms were up to the enlisted men. Command positions were elective at each location. A model was sought that privileged the civic participation of the citizens, as occurred in the similar institution in France, which inspired the Brazilian one.^[13]

Its main role was the maintenance of the territorial unity of the Empire and the suppression of local revolts.^[13]

Political clashes - the Caramurus' agitations; the 30 July coup

Diogo Feijó, minister of justice, resigned for failing to overthrow Bonifácio

José Bento Leite Ferreira de Melo, one of the priests of the "Revolution of the 3 Priests"

Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, stopped the 30 July coup

The regency found the country in serious difficulties, as a result of a serious financial crisis and unrest that threatened national unity. To face this situation, Diogo Antônio Feijó, also a deputy, was appointed as Minister of Justice.^[4]

The Moderate and the Exalted parties were later joined by the Restorer (its members were nicknamed caramurus), who preached the return of emperor Pedro I and was headed by José Bonifácio,^[4] who had recovered his previous political prestige by being appointed tutor to the young monarch.^[5]

Faced with nationwide instability, Feijó demanded that the regency give him written authorization that he would have full autonomy in the affairs of his ministry, so that he could face the riots that broke out, especially in Rio de Janeiro. Part of the unrest, provoked by José Bonifácio and the caramurus, aimed to destabilize the regency. On 3 April 1832, a revolt broke out in the capital, in the midst of many political intrigues; blaming Bonifácio for the agitations, Feijó demanded his resignation from his position of tutor, having declared: "either José Bonifácio leaves the tutorship or I leave the ministry of justice".^[5]

The deputies, with a moderate majority, were in favor of the dismissal requested by Feijó; but the Senate, where Bonifácio still enjoyed prestige and had a conservative majority, rejected, by a difference of just one vote, the bill to dismiss Bonifácio; Feijó then presented his resignation on 5 April.^[5]

In his office Feijó acted with great rigor and efficiency. He also had the Feijó Law approved, which provided for the liberation of slaves who came from outside the empire, but whose effectiveness was null.^[5]

Bonifácio lost prestige with the death of Pedro I and was arrested

The Marquis of Itanhaém replaced José Bonifácio as tutor of emperor Pedro II

Despite now being outside the government, Feijó made a new attempt to make moderate reforms prosper in the episode that became known as the 30 July coup. Counting on the help of priest José Bento Leite Ferreira de Melo in the typography where Melo edited the newspaper O Pregoeiro Constitucional - a liberal newspaper that opposed Pedro I - the Constitution of Pouso Alegre was printed, a new constitution that brought the amendments that dragged on in the General Assembly, and that the coup planned to approve.^[14]

The coup failed, as it lacked the support of the deputies, most of whom were averse to adopting measures that contradicted the constitutional order itself.^[13] The then unknown town of Pouso Alegre, a few years prior known simply as Arraial de Mandu, became known throughout Brazil,^[14] thanks to the figure of priest José Bento, who had gained notoriety. In addition to Feijó, who was a catholic priest himself, and José Bento, there was a third priest, José Custódio Dias,^[15] who lent his estate to serve as the location to the preparations for the plot. This led the coup to also be called the "Revolution of the Three Priests".^[14]

In addition to the approval of the Constitution of Pouso Alegre, the priests wanted to remove José Bonifácio from the post of tutor of the future monarch. The coup's failure was in great part thanks to Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão, the Marquis of Paraná, who acted as the most important dissent figure among the liberals, and the one who sought to dissuade his peers from supporting the initiative, mainly for fear that the act could serve as an example to other breaches of legality.^[15]

Fearful that José Bonifácio would use the young monarch as a guarantee to attempt new coups, the regents demanded that he would not leave the Imperial Palace. Despite this, Bonifácio took Pedro II and his sisters to the Palace of São Cristóvão. Aureliano Coutinho, who had replaced Feijó in the Ministry of Justice, demanded Bonifácio's return, which he disobeyed. On 15 December 1833, José Bonifácio was finally dismissed. Manuel Inácio de Andrade, the Marquis of Itanhaém, was appointed to the position of Royal Tutor to replace Bonifácio.^[5] One of the key figures behind Bonifácio's dismissal and imprisonment was Cândido de Araújo Viana.^[16]

José Bonifácio was then arrested and later sent to the Paquetá Island, where he remained in his beach house. After his trial, he was finally acquitted of the charges; however, Bonifácio did not recover from this last blow, dying a few years later in Niterói.^[16]

The 1834 Additional Act

The Additional Act was a direct result of the liberal majority in the Chamber of Deputies, which preached greater autonomy for the provinces and was a programmatic goal of the liberals. Thus, the regency proposed that the 1824 Constitution be amended.^[5]

Caricature of the time showing Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos burying the political advances of 7 April 1831

The bill for the constitutional amendment had been proposed in 1831 by a commission consisting mostly of liberal deputies from the province of São Paulo; it included Francisco de Paula Sousa e Melo and José Cesário de Miranda Ribeiro. The initial proposal contained quite radical changes, in the sense of expanding provincial power, these included: the election of a sole regent by the provincial assemblies, as well as the senators; the senators would lose their status of senators for life; the Executive's veto power would be limited, and could be overthrown by a simple majority in the parliament. The point of greatest controversy, however, was the insertion in Article 1 of the constitution of the words "the government of the Empire of Brazil shall be a federative monarchy".^[13]

The Senate reacted through amendments that altered the text originated in the Chamber; those that were rejected had to be considered in a joint session of the two houses and, in it, the senators managed to block the insertion of the federal system in Article 1 and maintain their lifetime status.^[13]

Ratified on 12 August 1834, the Additional Act adapted federalist principles to the monarchy. Its main writer was deputy Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos,^[5] who had been a colleague and friend of two of the regents from his college days in the University of Coimbra,^[12] and was one of the most influential deputies. Among its biggest innovations were:^[5]

1. The creation of Legislative Assemblies in the provinces. This body replaced the former General Councils and legislated on local civil, judicial and religious organization, on public education, expropriations, civil servants, municipal politics and economy, transport and public works;
2. The creation of the Neutral Municipality as a territory dismembered from the province of Rio de Janeiro, which should have its seat and government elsewhere than in the city of Rio, as well as the Assembly, choosing for that purpose the village of Praia Grande, which was later elevated to city with the name of Niterói;
3. The establishment of the vote for the election of a single regent with a term of office of 4 years;
4. The extinction of the Council of State.

Historian João Batista Ribeiro de Andrade Fernandes remarked that politics then took a new direction, with a supremacy of the Moderate Party:^[17]

"The most complete expression of this policy is found in the Additional Act that satisfied the local demands by creating provincial assemblies and abolished the Council of State while reinforcing the authority of the central government by reducing the regents to a single one; with great prudence it was possible to prevent the fragmentation of the country, which was the adoption of elected presidents for the provinces and thus other radical proposals did not find approval".

Araújo Lima's interim regency

On the eve of his resignation, Feijó had appointed the conservative Pedro de Araújo Lima as Minister of the Empire. Lima formed, as interim regent, the so-called "Ministry of Capabilities", which obtained a relative order and a certain economic development; this enabled him to run for regent in the elections that were held in April 1838.^[5]

Among the main achievements of his interim regency was the foundation of the Colégio Pedro II, in 1837.^[5]

Cabanada (1832–1835)

It broke out in Pernambuco, among the poorer strata of the population - called cabanos, as in the Cabanagem in Pará - and was caused mainly by the misunderstanding of the humble classes in face of the changes in the regime resulting from the abdication of Pedro I, which is why they had support from Recife's restorers.^[22]

With religious ideals, the Cabanada was finally defeated in 1835 by Manuel de Carvalho Pais de Andrade - the same officer who, in 1824, proclaimed the Confederation of the Equator and presided over the province.^[22]

Malê revolt (1835)

Debret: slaves in liberal jobs (street vendors, lamp lighters, water sellers); a priest receives alms from a black man

Half the population of the city of Salvador consisted of blacks who carried out profitable activities for their masters, in professions such as tailors, carpenters or street vendors. In January 1835, Muslim slaves, then called malês, organized a revolt that had an intense reaction from the government, which decimated them.^[19]

It was the largest of the country's urban slave uprisings, although it lasted less than a day; around 600 slaves took over the capital, most of them literate in Arabic and in the religious context of a jihad. In the intense fighting 70 slaves died, and about 500 were arrested and sentenced to lashes, imprisonment or death.^[23]

Its main effect, along with the other slave uprisings of the period, was to sow fear in the ruling class, which reacted in two ways: on the one hand, it reinforced repressive laws and, on the other, it opened the debate on the slavery issue.^[23]

Cabanagem (1835–1840)

Angelim, years after leading the Cabanagem

The rebellion began in 1835 in Belém, then a small city with 12,000 inhabitants, of which very few were white. The majority was of indigenous people, slaves and mestizos. After disagreements among the elites over the choice of the new president of the province, which, at the time, had very few ties with the central government in Rio de Janeiro, independence was proclaimed.^[24]

Belém was then attacked by troops made up mostly of mestizos, amerindians and blacks, among which Eduardo Angelim, from Ceará, stood out as leader. Angelim had migrated to the province of Grão-Pará after a great drought in his home province and was then 21 years old.^[24]

Called cabanos, the rebels had the goal of restoring Pará to Brazil, defending Pedro II as monarch and fighting foreigners. The result of five years of fighting, in which the loyalists won, was the death of an estimated 20% of the local population of the province, its economic destructuring and the destruction of the capital.^[24]

Ragamuffin War (1835–1845)

The Ragamuffin War was the largest and longest lasting of the rebellions that broke out during the regency period, even extending beyond it up until 1845.

Its immediate economic cause was the increase in taxes in the Rio Grande do Sul province, which directly affected ranchers who were already dissatisfied with competition from Argentine and Uruguayan producers.^[19]

On 20 September 1835, the city of Porto Alegre was taken by rebels. The rebels later proclaimed their independence as the Riograndense Republic. The leader of the rebels, Bento Gonçalves, was imprisoned and sent to Salvador, from where he managed to escape and return to his province, ruling it in 1837. Under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the Juliana Republic was proclaimed in Santa Catarina, united in a confederation with the Riograndense Republic.^[19]

The regencies were not able to put an end to this uprising. It was only defeated during the Second Reign, when emperor Pedro II was already of age.

Sabinada (1837–1838)

The rebellion began in Salvador, on 7 November 1837, and was named after one of its leaders, the doctor Francisco Sabino. It achieved initial success, after the uprising that began at the São Pedro fort, which spread to the other garrisons, causing the authorities to flee, including the president of the province, Francisco de Sousa Paraíso.^[25]

A provisional government was then formed, within the context of a Bahian Republic, which however would be interim until the emperor Pedro II came of age. This provoked controversies among historians about the actual liberal and republican character of the movement.^[26]

The government remained inoperative, under the presidency of vice-governor João Carneiro da Silva Rego; at the beginning of January of the following year their positions were being lost, until the final defeat with the military occupation of the city on March 13, which lasted until shortly after the emperor was declared of age.^[25] About 1,800 rebels died, after the hand-to-hand fights.^[27]

Balaiada (1838–1841)

The movement that took place in Maranhão had an economic cause: the crisis in cotton production, which came to erupt in a revolt of slaves and cattle herders from the large farms, in December 1838, with the support of the urban liberals, who opposed the landowners.^[28]

Having as its main leader Manuel Francisco dos Anjos Ferreira, a basket (Portuguese: balaio) maker, from which it gained its name. In 1839, the rebels took over the city of Caxias, while the escaped slaves settled in quilombos in the jungle. The confrontations lasted for 3 years, causing enormous damage to the farmers, but they remained without a common political leader to organize them, being finally defeated by the reaction of the elites, with the support of imperial troops under the command of then colonel Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, future Duke of Caxias.^[28]

Citations

Bibliography

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• Tavares, Luís Henrique Dias (2006). História da Bahia (in Portuguese). Edufba. ISBN 8571393702.
• Galvão, Miguel Archanjo (1894). Relação dos cidadãos que tomaram parte no governo do Brazil no periodo de março de 1808 a 15 de novembro de 1889 (in Portuguese). Rio de Janeiro: Imprensa Nacional.