Brazilian Revolution A. 1. -The Portuguese royal family arrived in Brazil in 1807 to flee Napoleon s invasion of Portugal -Brazil was raised to equal status with Portugal, and the functions of the royal government were set up in Brazil -the ports of Brazil were open to world commerce -Dom Joao VI ruled from Brazil -In 1820, after the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, the king and the royal government could return back to Portugal -Brazilians realized that Brazil s new status would be doomed and that it would be recolonized -The son of Dom Joao,Pedro I, stayed back in Brazil at his father s request -After demands that Pedro I must also return, Pedro I declared Brazilian independence in 1822 2. In 1820, Portugal experienced the Constitutional Revolution. This revolution led to the Constituent Assembly s meeting and to demand the return of King Dom João VI from Brazil. The assembly is also known as the Cortes. On 26 April 1821, the king left Brazil in the hands of his son, Dom Pedro, and returned to Portugal. In September 1821, the provincial governments of Brazil were put in political subordination to Portugal, which left Pedro nothing more than the Governor of Rio de Janeiro.The Brazilian inhabitants had become outraged by the Cortes actions. This resulted in the uprising of the Bonifacians and the Liberals. These two groups were united only by the fact that they wanted to keep Brazil united with Portugal as a sovereign monarchy. The Portuguese deputies of the Cortes showed no respect towards the prince and openly mocked him. So the loyalty that Pedro had shown towards the Cortes gradually shifted to the Brazilian cause. Pedro's reply came on 9 January 1822, that he will stay in Brazil. After Pedro's decision to defy the Cortes, around 2,000 men led by Jorge Avilez rioted before concentrating on mount Castelo, which was soon surrounded by 10,000 armed Brazilians, led by the Royal Police Guard. Dom Pedro then "dismissed" the Portuguese commanding general and ordered him to remove his soldiers to Portugal.In August 1822, Pedro went to São Paulo to pledge loyalty to the Brazilian cause. Word of the independent Brazil spread quickly, and locals celebrated the stance taken by Dom Pedro. 3. Causes of the Brazilian Revolution S - social -Brazilians were only allowed to trade with Portugal. This restriction created a strong class of
merchants and planters who wanted to trade freely. Although this contributed to revolution, this class did not push directly for change due to fears of a slave uprising. P - political I - interactions with environment -Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal, causing the king to flee to Brazil and set up a new trading empire there for a time. This had key economic impacts that led to revolution. -When he moved back to Portugal, the Portuguese king left behind his son, Pedro, to rule Brazil. Pedro was influenced by the mercantile classes that wanted free trade and recognized that independence was inevitable. Pedro led Brazil to independence and became its emperor afterward. -Brazil s ability to produce large amounts of sugar and gold made it a highly important part of the Portuguese trading empire. This led to the trading restrictions that ultimately triggered the Brazilian Revolution. C - cultural --- E - economic -When the Portuguese king moved temporarily, the center of the trade empire became Brazil. This allowed Brazil to trade internationally until Portugal regained independence and the king moved back to Europe, putting former restrictions back in place. Brazil was unwilling to accept the limitations again and began to fight for independence. 4. Important People: Dom João VI - Setup Capital in Rio De Janeiro, with a huge influx of skilled people, workers, and ideas following. Pedro I - Son of Dom João VI, left behind after Dom João VI moved back and made him leader of Brazil. Pedro I declared Brazil an Independent state, Yet also allowing for a constitution, and an elected parliament. Pedro II - Son of Pedro I Ruled after Pedro I rule became too challenging. Started at Age 5, did not begin ruling until age 14. Ruled until 1889 after being overthrown by republicans. Napoleon - Forced Dom João VI to move capital due to military pressure.
5. Capital moved to Rio De Janeiro Fall of Napoleon Transfer of Power to Pedro I 6. The goal of the Brazilian Revolution was that Brazil did not want to return to its status of territory again after the departure of the royal family of Portugal. Brazilians united almost unanimously in their yearning for independence from Portugal. 7. Results of the revolution included regional conflicts between supporters and opposition of joining the empire, which required settlements regarding the territorial boundaries of the empire, the Cisplatine war from 1825-1828 against Buenos Aires when they refused to join the empire, which ended in a stalemate but caused serious economic troubles for both parties; however, many social hierarchies and customs were left the same because their first leader, Dom Pedro II, was a member of a Portuguese dynasty. B. Conclusion and Analysis 1. a. The structure of the Brazilian government after the revolution did not have many significant changes with Brazil remaining as a monarchy. After winning Brazilian Independence, Pedro I decided to keep Brazil as a monarchy and issued a liberal constitution by 1824. b. Pedro I was the only leader of the Brazilian Revolution. Pedro I,being the son and successor of Dom Joao, did not borrow many if at all any ideas, tactics, anything from other leaders. c. Despite promising Britain that slavery would end in 1827 slavery was left in place and slaves weren t granted citizenship. The rights of most of the people were the same as well after the revolution. d. Poverty and inequality remained from the Portuguese colonial era. Since almost all of the social hierarchy stayed the same, the main winner was the emperor as he had most of the power in Imperial Brazil. Economically, the Brazilians got trade privileges with Britain in exchange for abolishing slavery, which they didn t do until 1888. e. The fate of the losers in the Brazilian revolution would not be much of a problem for either side as Dom Pedro, who acted as the head of the revolution, was the son of Dom João VI who was also the king of Portugal which Pedro was declaring independence from. The official breaking of ties between Portugal and Brazil ended with Pedro writing a letter to his father, João VI. On 12 October 1822, Prince Pedro was acclaimed Dom Pedro I, Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender of Brazil.
f. Brazil would continue to hold onto slavery until 1822 which would make the country the last new world country to abandon slavery; however, people would continue to work in slavery-like conditions for a long period of time. 2. The Brazilian Revolution was significantly less radical than the American and French Revolutions. While these revolutions exhibited intense violence over extended periods of time, the Brazilian Revolution lasted less than a year and was relatively nonviolent. In fact, this revolution was really an independence movement, since the only major change that occurred was the separation of Brazil from Portugal. The political structure remained intact, with the the revolution leader Pedro becoming the new emperor of Brazil. The social and economic structure also was left unchanged, besides the fact that Brazil was now able to trade internationally. The fact that the revolution was centered around the upper class and that many Brazilians feared a slave uprising caused the changes to be relatively non-radical and limited. 3. Brazil s early years after independence were extremely difficult. Nevertheless, by 1950s, Brazil began to trade with the rest of the world and encouraged free trade. Brazilian industry were set up to manufacture the goods that Brazil used to import. There were not many global impact because it was more like revolution in Portugal, not in Brazil.