The First Brazilian Republic, also referred to as the Old Republic (Portuguese: República Velha, Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁeˈpublikɐ ˈvɛʎɐ]), officially the Republic of the United States of Brazil, was the Brazilian state in the period from 1889 to 1930. The Old Republic began with a coup d'état led by Deodoro da Fonseca that deposed Emperor Pedro II in 1889, and ended with the Revolution of 1930 that installed Getúlio Vargas as a new president.
The First Republic is divided into two historiographical periods: the Republic of the Sword (1889-1894), when it was a military dictatorship under Marshals Deodoro da Fonseca and Floriano Peixoto. And the second period, known as the Oligarchic Republic (1894-1930). During the latter, political power was highly decentralized and was dominated by state-level oligarchies, the country's presidency was dominated by the most powerful states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, whose political elites alternated in holding the office of President of Brazil. The economy was predominantly agrarian and heavily dependent on coffee exports. Because of the power of these two states, based on the production of coffee and dairy, respectively, the Old Republic's political system has been described as "milk coffee politics". At local level, the country was dominated by a form of machine politics known as coronelism, in which the political and economic spheres were centered around local agrarian oligarchs, known as a "colonels", who dispense favors in return for loyalty and controlled elections, commonly by conducting electoral fraud.
The country was also marked by a series of rebellions and revolutions against the ruling oligarchies, including the Federalist Revolution, the Naval Revolts, the Canudos and Contestado Wars, the Revolt of the Lash, and the Tenentist movements—which encompassed events such as the Copacabana Fort revolt, São Paulo Revolt of 1924 and the Prestes column. Political and economic tensions intensified during the 1920s, which culminated into the Revolution of 1930, when the Liberal Alliance, a force of urban middle-class, reformist politicians, dissident oligarchs from outside São Paulo and military reformists composed mostly by junior officers (known as Tenentism), deposed ruling president Washington Luís (representative of the São Paulo oligarchies) and led to the ascension of Getúlio Vargas as president, heralding the start of the Vargas Era.
Background
Decline of the Empire of Brazil
After the Paraguayan War, the Brazilian military gained political influence. Emperor Pedro II's worsening health gradually removed him from his active role in politics, which caused tension between the imperial elite and the military as there was no moderating force between them. Pedro II's successor, Princess Isabel, had a husband who had a controversial personality. The church had also worn down the government to some extent.
In 1889, Deodoro da Fonseca, a marshal of the Brazilian Army, attended a meeting with prestigious civilian and military men who pressured him to begin a movement against the monarchy; there had been a rumor that he would be arrested. This resulted in him launching a coup d'état on 15 November 1889, which was bloodless and unopposed. It is unknown if whether on the day itself he had declared the birth of the republic, or had only removed the Prime Minister, the Viscount of Ouro Preto from power.
Republic of the Sword, 1889–1894
The officers who joined Field Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca in ending the Empire had made an oath to uphold it. The officer corps would eventually resolve the contradiction by linking its duty to Brazil itself, rather than to transitory governments. The Republic was born rather accidentally: Deodoro had intended only to replace the cabinet, but the republicans manipulated him into founding a republic.
Provisional Government (1889–1891)
Following the coup, Deodoro da Fonseca was chosen to be the leader of the new republic.
Many of the tasks which the new government were faced with were solved by executive decree, which drew opposition from republicans and non-republicans. The governments' first decree stated that until a constitution was adopted, a federal republic would govern. Followed by decrees which allowed those with literacy and were above the age of 21 to vote, (it was implicitly understood that women did not vote), separated church and state, and dissolved state assemblies under the Empire.
Ruy Barbosa was the main handler of financial problems. In the last years of the imperial regime, many financial problems had begun. Ruy Barbosa attempted to solve these problems by allowing certain banks and businesses concerns favored by the government to triple the nation's credit. This plan was called the "Encilhamento". The immediate effects were mass speculation and inflation, which caused foreign investors and banks to pull out of Brazil. It would be several years before the country regained the trust of foreign bankers.
5 days after the overthrow of the empire, Argentina and Uruguay recognised the new republic, Chile followed suit by the before end of 1889. The next year, most of Latin America and the United States had recognised the new republic, together with most other nations, though it was coldly received in Europe at first due to its lack of a constitution.
With the liberals fearing a military dictatorship and Europe's icy reaction towards the new republic, a constitution was promulgated two years later.
The constitution of 1891
The Constituent Assembly, which drew up the constitution of 1891, was divided between two factions. Those who sought to limit executive power, which was dictatorial in scope under President Deodoro da Fonseca and the other being the Jacobins, who opposed the paulista coffee oligarchy and who wanted to preserve and intensify presidential authority. The constitution created by this assembly established a federation that was officially governed by a president, a bicameral National Congress (Congresso Nacional; hereafter, Congress), and a judiciary.
The laws in the constitution regarding voting rights were restrictive; only the literate were able to vote, leaving out 95% of the population. Though there was no specific law that forbade women from voting, it was implicitly understood that women did not vote. Voting was also made voluntary, which meant that there was little incentive or reason to vote, especially to people living in rural areas of Brazil with little government presence. Even in the most competitive presidential elections, (excluding the final election of the old republic, the election of 1930), vote counts would never be above a million.
The Oligarchical System
Regardless of the constitution, the real power was held by the states, and by local potentates called "colonels." The colonels largely controlled Brazil's internal politics through a system of unwritten agreements known as coronelismo. Coronelismo, which supported state autonomy, was called the "politics of the governors". Under it, the local oligarchies chose the state governors, who in turn selected the president.
This informal but real distribution of power emerged, the so-called politics of the governors, to take shape as the result of armed struggles and bargaining. The populous and prosperous states of Minas Gerais and São Paulo dominated the system and swapped the presidency between them for many years. The system consolidated the state oligarchies around families that had been members of the old monarchical elite. And to check the nationalizing tendencies of the army, this oligarchic republic and its state components strengthened the navy and the state police. In the larger states, the state police were soon turned into small armies. The Head of the Brazilian army ordered that it would doubled so they could defend them.
Floriano Peixoto government (1891–1894)
With a new constitution, the first election in Brazilian history was held in 1891. The candidates were Deodoro de Fonseca, and Floriano Peixoto, the former's Minister of War. Deodoro de Fonseca was elected President, and Floriano Peixoto was elected Vice President against their respective candidates. The latter won 156 votes and the former won 129. Deodoro da Fonseca had difficulty adjusting to sharing power with Congress and dissolved it in November 1891, which provoked revolts in the navy (First Navy Revolt) and in Rio Grande Do Sul. In hopes to mollify the opposition, he resigned to allow Vice President, Floriano Peixoto to take over the presidential position.
Upon taking office, Floriano ousted all state governors that had supported Deodoro, which triggered violence in many parts of the country. One of the bloodiest of these was the civil war in Rio Grande Do Sul, which quickly spread to neighbouring states such as Santa Catarina and Parana, pitting former monarchist liberals against republicans. While the civil war in Rio Grande Do Sul was raging, a Second Navy Revolt in Guanabara Bay began. The revolt was put down by a fleet of ships with American crews.
Military
With the monarchy suddenly eliminated, the Army was left as the country's only long-lasting and powerful national institution. Although the Roman Catholic Church continued its presence throughout the country, it was not national but rather international in its personnel, doctrine, liturgy, and purposes. The army assumed this new position strategically; the monarchy had become unpopular with Brazil's conservative economic elite after the abolition of slavery, and the army capitalized on that shift in opinion to amass support for itself within the upper class. Thanks to their success in this area, the army's prestige managed to eclipse even other military institutions, like the Navy and the National Guard. The navy's attempts to prevent such hegemony were defeated militarily during the early 1890s. Although it had more units and men in Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul than elsewhere, the Army's presence was felt throughout the country. Its personnel, its interests, its ideology, and its commitments were national in scope.
The army was not a united institution, it was distinctly divided into two factions. The faction under Deodoro de Fonseca, and the faction under Floriano Peixoto. The key difference between the two factions being that the latter's followers adopted positivism and the formers' did not.
First civilian presidencies, 1894–1910
Floriano Peixoto's resignation marked the end of the first phase of the old Republic, the Republic of the Sword, where Brazil was ruled militarily, without a civilian president. After Peixoto's resignation, he handed over the presidency to Prudente de Morais, the first civilian president of Brazil.
Prudente de Morais government (1894–1898)
Morais' first actions in office were to negotiate an end to the Federalist Revolt and grant amnesty to the rebels while lowering the influence of the military in politics. During his presidency, tensions between Civilian and military forces were high. The military was suspicious of the new president, and believed that Morais would rob them of the victory in creating the republic. No military men would take office until Hermes da Fonseca in 1910, and the role of the military in politics was greatly reduced. The Clube Militar, was shut down between 1896 and 1901. During his presidency, tensions between the political elite of the states and the radical Jacobins were also amplified. The Jacobins were mainly made out of the lower middle class, military men, and workers, who had been affected by rising costs of living. They believed that a strong, centralized republic would be able to fend off monarchist threats, which they believed were in every corner of the republic. They were also anti-Portuguese, as they would disrupt Portuguese commerce in Rio De Janeiro.
During this period, territorial disputes with foreign powers were also resolved. Prudente de Morais resolved a dispute with Britain regarding the latter's occupation of Trindade island, bringing in Portugal as a mediator. A more violent situation occurred in the state of Amápa, where french troops invaded and burned several villages in the area as the result of a long-standing border dispute. The situation was resolved with Switzerland as a mediator. The result of both of these territorial disputes was favourable to Brazil.
In 1896, A war began between the village of Canudos and the republic, the former led by Antonio Maciel. The conflict began with an incident regarding the cutting of some timber. The governor of Bahia decided to attack the Canudos settlement, though his expedition was defeated. Two more expeditions were defeated soon after, which drew a wave of violence and protest in São Paulo. In 1897, a well-equipped expedition led by General Artur Oscar with 8000 men razed the settlement. The conflict drew attention from many jacobins, who saw the conflict as monarchist-perpetrated uprising. Their proof was that Antonio Maciel had preached for the return of the monarchy, and as a priest, saw republics and democracy as "atheist inventions".
Campos Sales Government (1898–1902)
Following Prudente de Morais, Campos Sales' assumed the presidency. During his presidency, he created a political system known as the Governors' Policy, where elections would be controlled by powerful oligarchs who would receive favours from presidential candidates in return for supporting their presidency. These powerful oligarchs would then offer favours to the populace in exchange for them to vote for a certain candidate. He also stabilized the economy with the help of austerity measures.