Pedro I and Brazilian Independence

REVOLUTIONS IN LATIN AMERICA HIST 1301 | History Pedro I and Brazilian Independence In Rio de Janeiro, João left his son and successor Pedro I as prince regent, giving him orders to uphold the family's authority and heritage. The gifted twenty-three-year-old prince embraced his responsibilities with gusto. The Cortes ordered the dissolution of Rio's central government structure in an effort to return Brazil to its pre-colonial state. It ordered the prince to return in January 1822, but Pedro refused to comply with the Brazilians' request to stay. (The Portuguese word ficar, which means "to remain," gave rise to the moniker "O Fico." But now that the Cortes' aims had caused tensions between liberal and conservative elements in the Brazilian provinces, it was impossible to ignore them. Pedro made the decisive action when the elites of Brazil rejected Portuguese authority. On September 7, 1822, he split with Portugal and declared Brazilian independence on the banks of the Ipiranga River in the São Paulo region. The Ipiranga Cry, or Grito do Ipiranga, is the name given to this incident. With much fanfare and ceremony, Pedro I was crowned as Brazil's Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender at Rio de Janeiro. Initially, the Portuguese Cortes declined to acknowledge Brazil's independence; but, outside of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and their neighbouring provinces, a small number of local juntas expressed support for Portuguese governance. Pedro I recruited British navy veteran Thomas Cochrane to become Brazil's first admiral and commander in chief because he was determined to defeat the Portuguese. Cochrane, known as "the Sea Wolf" by the French, was one of the most audacious and prosperous naval leaders of his era. Following his removal from the British Navy List due to a financial controversy in 1814, he embarked on a new profession as a mercenary. He established the Chilean navy in 1818, and he and José de San Martín were instrumental in gaining Chile's independence and liberating Peru's coastal regions. When Pedro I invited him to serve Brazil, he was enjoying a semi-retired lifestyle on his Chilean farm. A small Brazilian naval squadron was raised by Cochrane to prevent Portugal from accessing Brazil's ports. His blockade of Salvador, the province of Bahia's principal port, was his first major achievement. In 1823, Cochrane drove Portuguese military troops to leave Brazil's northern regions by restricting supplies to coastal cities and garrisons. The Rio de Janeiro Treaty of 1825 acknowledged Brazil's independence from Portugal. Brazil remained united throughout the Braganzas' thirteen-year rule over Rio before to independence, and the royal court continued to be seen as a source of authority and influence. Nothing worked better to put an end to regional divides than the foreign danger posed by Portugal, which the majority of educated residents acknowledged as the system with which they associated. Pedro I called elected officials from every province to Rio in May 1823 so they could prepare the constitution for the new empire. The majority were descendants of the ancient landed nobility of Brazil, and some, like the liberal José Bonifácio de Andrade e Silva, who attended Coimbra University in Portugal, had served as Brazil's representative in the Portuguese Cortes. The assembly disagreed on slavery, the definition of citizenship, and civil rights, but they crafted a constitution that attempted to strike a balance between the executive, judicial, and legislative departments of government. Pedro I supported the gradual eradication of slavery, but Brazilians who derived their income from sugar estates were particularly worried about any interference with the institution. Dealing with the legislature was not one of Pedro I's strong suits. He disbanded the assembly and finished drafting the constitution himself, with the assistance of a tiny and select council, in response to the first constitution's attempt to curtail the emperor's power. Pedro I, assuming the role of an autocrat, promulgated a liberal constitution in 1824 that disregarded slavery and established the moderator (moderador) as a fourth body of government in addition to the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. The emperor, as the moderator branch's representative, was given the authority to supervise the other three branches and "balance" them by mediating conflicts amongst them. Because Pedro ignored slavery and made controversial judgements on foreign commerce and finances, there was lingering resentment towards his dictatorial tendencies. As word spread throughout Brazil of the July Revolution of 1830, which overthrew an authoritarian monarch, public protests demanding the emperor's removal erupted. Pedro I abdicated in April 1831 to make way for his only son, Pedro II, who was born in Brazil, and set out for Portugal to claim the crown for his daughter Maria. He didn't come back. With his exit, Portuguese-born courtiers and businessmen lost their hegemonic control over Brazilian society, bringing to the country's complete independence.