The Pernambucan revolution, also known as the Priest's Revolution or Seventeen, occurred in the Captaincy of Pernambuco in the Northeastern region of Brazil, and was sparked mainly by the decline of sugar production rates and the influence of the Freemasonry in the region. Other important reasons for the revolt include: the ongoing struggle for the independence of Spanish colonies all over in South America; the independence of the United States; the generally liberal ideas that came through all of Brazil the century before, including many French Philosophers, such as Montesquieu and Rousseau; the actions of secret societies, which insisted on the liberation of the colony; the development of a distinct culture in Pernambuco.
The movement was led by Domingos José Martins, with the support of Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada and Frei Caneca. The Consulate General of the United States in Recife, America's oldest diplomatic post in the Southern Hemisphere, publicly supported the Pernambucan revolutionaries.
This revolution is also notable for being one of the first attempts to establish an independent government in Brazil, as it was preceded by the Inconfidência Mineira.
Contrasting with the Inconfidência Mineira, that at its demise culminated in the killing of a lower class white man (Tiradentes) or the Revolt of the Tailors, whose leaders that were killed were mostly black young men, the Pernambucan revolt ended up with the killing of white, higher-class ringleaders.
Background
The revolt can be traced from the presence of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil, which mostly benefited the plantation owners, merchants and bureaucrats of the Central and Southern regions of the country. The inhabitants of other regions, namely the Northeast, were not satisfied by the monarch's stay, given that southern Brazilians generally had knowledge of the favors and new privileges conceded to them by the Portuguese monarch from which they had received great wealth. The northern Brazilians were generally separated from the monarch, and the benefits thereof, but, at the same time, had the responsibility to support him.
Another group not content with the politics of the King John VI of Portugal and Brazil were military officials of Brazilian descent. In order to protect the cities and provide aid in military actions in French Guiana and in the region of Prata, John brought troops from Portugal in order to organize military forces reserving the highest military ranks for the Portuguese nobility. Because of this, the level of taxes steadily rose as the colony was forced to maintain the expenditures of the military campaigns.
The historical analyst, Maria Odila Silva Dias, remarked that "in order to cover the costs of installing public works and civil servants, taxes on the export of sugar, tobacco and leather were increased, creating a series of troubles that directly affected the capitanias of the North, which the Court did not hesitate to burden with the violence of recruitment and with contributions to cover the expenses of war in the kingdom, in Guiana and in the Prata region. For the governors and functionaries of various capitanias, turning to Lisboa or to Rio was the same thing."
Another factor was the conception of "Brazil". Until then, "Brazil" was a generic name to several Portuguese possessions on the New World, and even the United States referred to those possessions as plural, "Brazils'". The United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves was recently declared in 1815, and for the first time Brazil was seen as part of one kingdom. In general, the provincial matters were prevalent over national matters, and the idea of a "Brazilian people" did not exist.
Troubles in the Northeast
The Northeastern region had already been affected by a famine causing a blow to cotton and sugar production in 1816, and creating another reason for the fervent desire for independence. In Recife, the capital of Pernambuco, and in the principal ports of the region, this desire and a general feeling of hostility toward the Portuguese was particularly extreme. The general sentiment was described as the "Portuguese of New Lisbon" exploit and oppress the "Pernambucan patriots".
Liberal ideas that entered Brazil by way of foreign travelers, books, and other sources incited the revolutionaries. Also, secret societies had formed from the end of the 18th century, often in the form of Masonic Lodges, several of which, such as Patriotismo, and Restauração, had existed in Pernambuco – all of which served as locations for the spreading and general discussion of the so-called "infamous French ideas", coming from the French Revolution. The Northern Lodges, including the ones of Pernambuco, were of English tradition and advocated for the implementation of a republic in Brazil. They had a quarrel of the Fluminense and Portuguese Lodges, of French tradition, that advocated for the implementation of a constitutional monarchy.
Initially, the Governor of Pernambuco Caetano Pinto was seen as a good administrator and a reasonable and just man, that listened to both the royalty and the population. But in from 1808 on, he became known amongst the population for being weak, corrupt, a bad administrator and responsible for excessive taxes.
Preparation
Several testimonies affirm the revolt was being planned for at least 10 years in masonic lodges, specially in the houses of Domingos José Martins, João Ribeiro Pessoa de Melo Montenegro, Antônio Gonçalves da Cruz and Vicente Peixoto. In 1816, The Masonic Lodges intensively spread political propaganda in Pernambuco. The Government made several attempts to stop them. The revolt was planned specially by the descendants of the War of the Mascates, that in few generations became one of the most powerful social class in Brazil. The Freemasons attempted to raise hostility amongst the Portuguese and Pernambucans and to get support from the Clergy, the local elite and the armed forces, that showed support for the conspirators. In total, from 43 to 70 clergy men took part of the revolution. They were inspired by the theology of illustration, that went accordingly to the reforms made by Marquis of Pombal. Despite their strong support in favor of the local elites, ony a fraction of the engenho owners supported Freemasons, but several of them showed support after the start of the revolt.
The two main masonic lodges in Pernambuco were the Academies of Cabo and Paraíso, that substituted the Areopagus Lodge, dissolved in 1801 after the Conspiracy of Suassuna. The Fluminense Freemasons were being systematically excluded from the republican groups. They were aware of their differences with the Pernambucan Freemasons and nominated Antônio Carlos as ombudsman of Olinda to control them.
Several people involved with the revolution, including their leaders, studied on University of Coimbra. Inside of the university, students debated literature that was forbitten in Portugal, including books from the illuminist philosophers Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Helvétius and Diderot. Many clergymen that studied at the Seminary of Olinda were also supporters of the liberal ideas. Secret meetings were held inside churches, clubs, military facilities, and other private social spaces. There, radical political ideas were debated and forbitten literature was read. The pasquinades written on those meetings were spread on the walls of the city. Amongst the forbitten literature studied by the republicans were the French Constitutions of 1791, 1793 and 1795 and The Constitutions of the Free-Masons, by Benjamin Franklin.
Despite the adherence of the elites, their ideals were not nearly as much spread to the population. There were many troops from Dom João VI in the streets, and as consequence the republican ideals were mainly discussed in private spaces. Several people that partook on the revolt did not know they were fighting against the Portuguese royalty, as they felt it was an insurrection against a bad administrator, and were waiting for a better person to be named as Governor by Dom João VI. The masonic leaders would only talk about the independence of Pernambuco amongst the initiated, hiding crucial information from the so-called "mongrels". Slaves were already organized, waiting for a chance to act. The revolutionaries sent agents to several captaincies, including Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, in hope of convincing them to join the revolution. The news were also spread through merchants.
In 1816, a slave reported the Tenants José Paulino de Almeida e Albuquerque and Antonio Vieira Cavalcante to the authorities. The slave was freed and Albuquerque and Cavalcante were arrested on the Snake Island, being later freed on 14 February. In 1817, the government suspected the Franciscan friar Antônio das Neves was one of the responsible for spreading political propaganda in Pernambuco.
The Pernambucan revolt happened almost simultaneously with other Freemason conspiracies on Rio de Janeiro, Lisbon and Bahia. On Lisbon, the Portuguese Royalty discovered a Plot to substitute the Braganca for the Cadaval. On Bahia, Marcos de Noronha e Brito was accused of betraying Dom João VI, and plans were made in Recife to split Brazil in five different kingdoms. On Rio, there was a plan of forcing Dom João VI to sign a new Constitution.
The Revolt
Beginning
It is believed the revolt was scheduled to 16 March 1817. Shortly before the revolt, Domingos José Martins and the priest João Ribeiro ended relationships with the Tenant Colonel Alexandre Tomás, a fellow Freemason probably from the French rite.
Governor Caetano Pinto received a report about the conspiracy on 1 March, given by the ombudsman from Comarca do Sertão José da Cruz Ferreira, that heard about the conspiracy through Manuel de Carvalho Medeiros. On 4 March, he made his troops swear obedience to the monarchy and the harmony between Brazilians and Portuguese and on 5 March he made a speech to the Recife population, saying that Brazil would be elevated to a united kingdom and all of them obeyed the same king.
On 6 March, he issued an arrest order to several Freemasons of the English rite. Amongst the accused were three artillery captains, Domingos Teotônio Pessoa de Melo, José de Barros Lima and Pedro da Silva Pedroso, the tenant-secretary José Mariano de Albuquerque and the infantryman Manuel de Souza Teixeira. José Roberto Pereira da Silva was responsible for the arrest of the civils involved and the commanders of each regiment were responsible for the military. Marshall Manuel Joaquim Barbosa de Castro assembled his troops and accused the insurgents of being "agitators". Brigadeer Domingos Teotônio Jorge sent Captain Antônio José Vitoriano to arrest the accused on Forte de São Tiago das Cinco Pontas, but Captain Manoel Joaquim Barbosa de Castro went instead, but he was murdered by Lima with a sword strike. Most of the officials unleashed their swords in support of the conspirators and two Portuguese officials fled. According to Antônio Joaquim de Melo's registers of the memories of his friend José da Natividade Saldanha, Barbosa's death happened at about 2 pm.
The streets were taken few minutes later, over the sounds of bells. Caetano Pinto sent an emissary, that was shot dead. Tennant Antônio Henriques was sent to release Domingos José Martins and other prisoners from jail. Meanwhile, Captain Manuel D'Azevedo was sent to negotiate the freedom of the military personnel stuck on Forte de São Tiago das Cinco Pontas. Father Dias Martins already joined troops for the occasion. Francisco Pais Barreto joined Martin's militias with 600 slaves.
At 4 pm, Caetano Pinto sent troops led by José Roberto Pereira da Silva while he and his family fled to Forte de São João Batista do Brum. On 7 March, José Mariano was sent to Olinda and the militias of Father Dias Martins and Domingos Teotônio Jorge, made out of 800 men, surrounded the fort. The lawer José Luiz de Mendonça sent an ultimatum signed by Domingos Teotônio Jorge, João Ribeiro and Domingos José Martins. Caetano Pinto signed, thus renouncing his post as governor, and the revolutionaries made arrangements for him to be transported to Rio de Janeiro.
Many black men joined the Republicans during the revolt. Several slaves fled to Quilombo do Catucá, on Catucá woods, near Beberibe River.
During the revolt, several proclamations and documents were emitted containing insulting words and praising their liberty. Up until that moment, the press was censored by the crown. Several royalty symbols were destroyed, and a white flag was waved in replacement of the flag of the kingdom.
Provisional government
Shortly after, Martins organized elections for the Provincial Government of the Republic. Elections were barely unseen in Brazil, as they only happened to choose aldermen to the municipal chambers. Most of the candidates for the new government were tied to the local elites, but there were exceptions, such as Joaquim Ramos de Almeida and Tomás Antônio Ferreira Vila Nova, tied to subordinate groups.