The First Reign was the period of Brazilian history in which Pedro I ruled Brazil as Emperor. It began on September 7, 1822, when Brazil's independence was proclaimed, and ended on April 7, 1831, when Pedro I abdicated the Brazilian throne.
When Pedro I declared independence, defeating those who were still loyal to Portugal, he achieved great prestige and power. In 1823, he convened the Constituent Assembly which, amid great disagreements between parliamentarians and the Emperor, was dissolved in the Night of Agony. The emperor then convened a Council of State to draft Brazil's first constitution, which was enacted the following year. The document brought centralizing aspects along with the controversial moderating power, which contributed to growing discontent and revolts, including the outcome of the Cisplatine War and the assassination of Líbero Badaró, a well-known journalist. These incidents diminished the emperor's popularity and led to incidents such as a trip to Minas Gerais, where Pedro I was harassed by the locals.
At this point, two of the most important groups supporting the emperor also withdrew their support: the nobility and the army. This made the political situation untenable; confronted, Pedro I found no solution and, in April 1831, abdicated in favor of his son, Pedro de Alcântara, then 5 years old.
This period of transition was marked by a major economic, financial, social and political crisis. It is historically incorrect to refer to this period as the "First Empire", since Brazil had a single continuous imperial period, divided into the First Reign, the Regency Period and the Second Reign.
Independence of Brazil
After Napoleon Bonaparte declared war on England's allies, he ordered an invasion of Portugal, which had refused to comply with the French demands regarding the continental blockade. For this reason, the British crown financed the arrival of the Portuguese Royal Family in Rio de Janeiro in 1808. After a few years living in the colony, John VI became king of the country, founding the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves on December 16, 1815; Rio de Janeiro was named the capital of the United Kingdom.
Under this new political status, Brazil experienced some conditions not seen before, such as the installation of some small industries in Rio de Janeiro and trade with countries other than Portugal. One of these countries was England, which benefited greatly from the political change, since it wouldn't have to wait for Brazilian products (raw materials, gold, minerals) to pass through Portugal first. For helping the Portuguese crown, the British signed two treaties with them, the Strangford Treaty (1810) and the Treaty of Alliance and Friendship (1810), which established the payment of only 15% in taxes, while the Portuguese paid 16% and the rest of the European countries 24%.
Liberal Revolution of 1820
In 1820, the Portuguese population demanded the return of King John VI to Lisbon, as Napoleon had already been deposed in France. On August 24 of the same year, the Liberal Revolution broke out, first in the city of Porto and then in other Portuguese metropolises. Despite managing to postpone it for a few months, John VI was forced to return to Lisbon in 1822.
Beberibe Convention
Pernambuco was the first Brazilian province to secede from the Kingdom of Portugal, eleven months before the proclamation of Brazil's independence. On August 29, 1821, an armed movement began against the government of Captain General Luís do Rego Barreto – the leader of the Pernambucan revolt – culminating in the formation of the Junta de Goiana. On October 5, the Portuguese troops surrendered and were expelled from Pernambuco in a movement known as the Beberibe Convention, considered to be the first episode of Brazilian independence.
Dia do Fico
Pedro I refused to go to Portugal and remained in Brazil. On January 9, 1822, he pronounced the famous phrase: "If it is for the good of all and the general happiness of the nation, it is declared: tell the people that I stay". John VI was forced to swear an oath to the constitution and reinstate Brazil's status as a colony. In order to reverse the situation, the Brazilian people obtained around 9,000 signatures and convinced Pedro I to proclaim the Independence of Brazil on September 7, 1822.
Wars of independence
Pedro, now Emperor Pedro I, sought to remove possible centers of Portuguese resistance within Brazilian territory. He encountered strong opposition in the provinces of Maranhão, Bahia, Pará and Piauí, not to mention Portuguese troops who were still installed in Rio de Janeiro and other Brazilian cities. To solve the situation, Pedro I hired some European soldiers, mostly English and French, who, under the command of British Marshal Thomas Cochrane, managed to remove the enemy forces; in Maranhão, he succeeded in dissipating the resistance with just one warship.
By defeating the opposition in mid-1823, Pedro I consolidated his leadership. His first major political act was to convene the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in early 1823. This was also its first failure; due to a strong disagreement between the deputies and the Emperor, who demanded more personal power than the legislature and the judiciary, the Assembly was dissolved in November.
First reign of Brazil
Imperial Constitution
Constituent Assembly of 1823 On March 3, 1823, the General Constituent and Legislative Assembly of the Empire of Brazil began its activities with the objective of creating the country's first political constitution. On the same day, Pedro I delivered a speech to the assembled deputies, stating that the constitution should be worthy of Brazil and of himself (a phrase that was José Bonifácio's idea, not the Emperor's): As Constitutional Emperor, and especially as Perpetual Defender of this Empire, I said to the people on December 1st of last year, when I was crowned and consecrated – that with my sword I would defend the Homeland, the Nation and the Constitution, if it were worthy of Brazil and of me... a constitution in which the three powers are well divided... a constitution which, by putting up inaccessible barriers to despotism, whether royal, aristocratic or democratic, will chase away anarchy and plant the tree of liberty under whose shade the union, tranquillity and independence of this Empire must grow, which will be the wonder of the new and old world. All the constitutions which, in the style of 1791 and 1792, have laid their foundations and wanted to be organized, have shown us are totally theoretical and metaphysical, and therefore unworkable: this is proven by France, Spain and, lately, Portugal. They have not brought about general happiness as they should have done, but rather, after a licentious freedom, we see that in some countries despotism is already appearing, and in others it will soon appear, in one, after having been exercised by many, with the necessary consequence that the peoples are reduced to the sad situation of witnessing and suffering all the horrors of anarchy.
In his speech, Pedro I pointed out to the deputies that the constitution should prevent possible abuses, not only by the monarch, but also by the political class and the population itself. To this end, it would be important to avoid creating laws that would be violated in practice. At first, the Assembly was ready to accept the Emperor's request, but some deputies felt uncomfortable with Pedro's speech. One of them, Andrade de Lima, a representative from Pernambuco, expressed his discontent, claiming that Pedro's words were too ambiguous. The majority of the deputies in the Constituent Assembly were moderate liberals, gathering together "what was best and most representative in Brazil". They were elected indirectly, by census vote and did not belong to parties, which did not yet exist in the country.
However, there were political divisions and three groups were distinguishable: the "bonifacios", who were led by José Bonifácio, defended the existence of a strong, but constitutional and centralized monarchy, in order to avoid the possibility of the fragmentation of the country, wanted to abolish the slave trade and slavery, carry out agrarian reform and develop the country economically free of foreign loans; the "portugueses absolutistas" ("absolutist Portuguese"), who included not only Lusitanians but also Brazilians and defended an absolute and centralized monarchy, as well as the preservation of their economic and social privileges; and the "liberais federalistas" ("federalist liberals"), who included Portuguese and Brazilians and advocated a merely figurative and decentralized monarchy, if possible federal, together with the maintenance of slavery, as well as strongly opposing the projects of the "bonifacios". Ideologically, the Emperor identified with the "bonifacios", since he had no interest either in acting as an absolute monarch or in serving as "a cardboard figure in government".
The draft of the 1823 constitution was written by Andrada Machado, under the strong influence of the French and Norwegian constitutions, and sent to the Constituent Assembly, where the deputies began work on the document. There were several differences between the project of 1823 and the official text of 1824. In terms of federalism, it was centralizing, as it divided the country into comarcas, which are judicial and not administrative divisions. In addition, the electoral qualifications were much more restrictive than in the 1824 Constitution. The draft also stated that only free men in Brazil would be considered Brazilian citizens, and not slaves who might be freed, unlike the promulgated document. The separation of the three powers was planned, with the executive being under the authority of the Emperor, but the responsibility for his actions resting with the ministers of state. The Constituent Assembly also included the Emperor's veto (maintained in the final document), who could even veto the draft constitution if he so decided. However, political changes led the deputies to propose making the monarch a symbol completely subordinate to the Assembly. This fact, followed by the approval of a bill on June 12, 1823, which stated that the laws created by the organization would not have to be sanctioned by the Emperor, led Pedro I to confront the Constituent Assembly.
On one hand, the "liberais federalistas" wanted to overthrow the ministry presided over by José Bonifácio and get revenge for the persecutions they had suffered during the previous year. On the other hand, the "portugueses absolutistas" saw their interests threatened when José Bonifácio issued the decrees of November 12, 1822, and December 11, 1822, which eliminated the privileges of the Lusitanians and confiscated the goods, merchandise and property belonging to those who had supported Portugal during Brazilian independence, respectively. Despite their differences, the "portugueses" and the "liberais" allied with the purpose of removing their common enemy from power. They recruited the:[...] disaffected by the Andradas, whose reputation with the Emperor stimulated a lot of envy and whose arrogance, sometimes rude, stirred up a lot of feelings and hurt a lot of vanities. Harsh towards their opponents, the Andradas had made plenty of enemies out of the prestige earned by their intellectual superiority and honesty. The disaffected joined forces to overthrow them, and in the alliance, moderates were mixed up with the exalted.