The regency period is how the decade from 1831 to 1840 became known in the history of the Empire of Brazil, between the abdication of Emperor Pedro I, on 7 April 1831, and the declaration of majority of Pedro II, who was legally declared of age by the Senate at the age of 14 on 23 July 1840.
Born on 2 December 1825, Pedro II was, at the time of his father's abdication, 5 years and 4 months old, and therefore could not assume the government which, by law, would be headed by a regency made up of three representatives. During this decade there were four consecutive regencies: the Provisional Triumviral, the Permanent Triumviral, the una (sole) of Diogo Antônio Feijó and the una of Pedro de Araújo Lima.
It was one of the most defining and eventful periods in Brazilian history. In this period Brazil's territorial unity was defied and preserved, as numerous provincial rebellions erupted all over the country, such as the Cabanagem, in Grão-Pará, the Balaiada in Maranhão, the Sabinada, in Bahia, and the Ragamuffin War, in Rio Grande do Sul, the latter being the largest and longest. It was also the period in which the National Guard was created and the degree of autonomy of the provinces and the centralization of power were discussed.
The revolts threatened to disintegrate the country and showed the growing discontent with the central power in Rio de Janeiro and the latent social tensions of the newly independent nation, which prompted the joint effort of their opponents and the central government to maintain order. Historians have remarked that the regency period was the first "republican" experience in Brazil, given its elective nature.
Background
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:
"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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
Provisional Triumviral Regency (1831)
Despite the parliamentary recess, within a few hours after Pedro I's abdication, the senators and deputies who were in the court met. They officially received the emperor's resignation in the Palace of the Senate from general Francisco de Lima e Silva. They then elected a provisional regency, consisting of three senators: Francisco de Lima e Silva, Nicolau Pereira de Campos Vergueiro and José Joaquim Carneiro de Campos. It was thus composed of a prestigious military officer, a liberal and a conservative, respectively. Such regency was provided for in title 5, chapter V, articles 121 to 130 of the Political Constitution of the Empire of Brazil.
As soon as it took office, one of the regency's first acts was to restore the ministers dismissed by Pedro I to their positions. It convened the Legislative Assembly, gave amnesty to political prisoners and removed suspicious and disorderly foreigners from the troops.
A manifesto was published in which the people were exhorted to maintain order, and further explaining the political and administrative guidelines of the new government. In it the governing board declared, with exaggeration, that its enemies "were so few and so weak, that they deserved no consideration; but that it watched over them as if they were many and strong". Despite efforts to restore order, the provisional regency could not prevent conflicts between soldiers and Portuguese supporters of the Restorer Party, which sought to restore Pedro I to the Brazilian throne, both in Rio de Janeiro and in the provinces.
Two days after the abdication, on 9 April, the young successor to the throne was acclaimed emperor. The board of regents took him to the Imperial Palace, where he was presented to the people. So young, the boy had to wave his handkerchief over a chair, in a scene that was portrayed by French painter Jean-Baptiste Debret. On the same day, the board issued an amnesty decree "to citizens convicted or even sentenced for political crimes and to military defendants convicted of crimes of desertion".
Pedro I had appointed José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, with whom he had reconciled after a troubled breakup, as his children's tutor. For the protection of the young emperor and his sisters, Francisca and Januária, who also remained in the country, the princes stayed in the palace of São Cristóvão or Boa Vista, then in the suburbs of the capital. A troubled period had begun, in which Brazil's territorial unity and the central authority were questioned and put to the test by several riots, revolts and rebellions.
José Bonifácio had asked French diplomat Edouard Pontois to support a possible transfer of the young prince, in case of need due to political instabilities, to São Paulo, where he would move the capital, obtaining an evasive response from the diplomat.
Pedro I had stayed in Brazilian waters until his return to Europe; initially boarded in an English frigate, it was in the French corvette Volage that the former emperor departed to Europe. On 13 April, the regency announced the former monarch's departure from Brazil and the people took to the streets to celebrate the "fall of the tyrant".
The provisional regency had to act immediately to contain the revolts that broke out in the provinces: in Bahia, under the pretext of old distrusts from the Brazilian War of Independence, Brazilians attacked Portuguese nationals. Likewise, the regency also had to act in Pernambuco and Minas Gerais.
The provisional character of this regency lasted until the election of a new triumviral regency, now "permanent", on 3 May 1831.
Permanent Triumviral Regency (1831–1835)
On 17 June 1831, in the Palace of the Senate, with the Legislative General Assembly gathered and presided over by José Caetano da Silva Coutinho, a senator and bishop from São Paulo, the election of the Permanent Triumviral Regency took place. The elected regents were the deputies José da Costa Carvalho, from Bahia, João Bráulio Muniz, from Maranhão, and senator Francisco de Lima e Silva, from Rio de Janeiro. The election was based on article 123 of the 1824 Constitution. As the moderates made up the majority in the parliament, the elected regents were also adherents of this side, thus leaving out the exalted ones (in a large minority, especially in the Chamber of Deputies).
The composition of this triumvirate sought to maintain the balance of forces that already existed in the provisional regency: representing the north and northeast was João Bráulio Muniz, from Maranhão, who replaced Carneiro de Campos in this role; the south and southeast were represented by Costa Carvalho who, despite being born in Bahia, lived in São Paulo, where he published the newspaper O Farol Paulistano. Lima e Silva was, therefore, the only one of the Provisional Regency who was re-elected as regent.
In its administration, the newly elected regency promoted the reforms of the Schools of Medicine in Rio and Salvador, converting them into faculties; the judicial branch was reorganized and the jury trial was established.
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, from Minas Gerais, and aimed at increasing the primacy of the Legislative branch over the Executive.
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.
Creation of the National Guard
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.
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.
Its main role was the maintenance of the territorial unity of the Empire and the suppression of local revolts.
Political clashes – the Caramurus' agitations; 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.
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, who had recovered his previous political prestige by being appointed tutor to the young monarch.
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".
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.
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.