With the proclamation of the Republic in 1889, a new period in the political history of Brazil was inaugurated: the political power came to be controlled by rural oligarchies, mainly oligarchies coffee trees. However, the political control exercised by the oligarchies did not happen right after the proclamation of the Republic - the two The first governments (1889-1894) corresponded to the so-called Republic of the Sword, that is, Brazil was under the command of army. Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca led the country during the Provisional Government (1889-1891). After Deodoro left, Marshal Floriano Peixoto was in charge of the Brazilian government until 1894.
In the year of 1894, the oligarchic groups, mainly the São Paulo coffee oligarchy, were articulating to assume power and control the Republic. The people from São Paulo supported Floriano Peixoto. From this alliance emerged the candidate elected in the March 1894 elections, Prudente de Morais, affiliated with the Partido Republicano Paulista (PRP). From then on, Brazilian political power was restricted to the agrarian oligarchies of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, from 1894 to 1930, a period known as the Oligarchic Republic. Thus, presidential political dominance during this period of time prevailed between São Paulo and Minas Gerais, making the coffee-with-milk policy effective.
During the government of President Campo Sales (1898-1902), the Oligarchic Republic carried out what fundamentally marked the First Republic: the so-called policy of governors, which was based on agreements and alliances between the president of the republic and the state governors, who were called state presidents. These would always support loyal candidates for the federal government; in return, the federal government would never interfere in local (state) elections.
But, after all, how was the support for the candidates for the presidency of the federal government by the state governors effective? This support was known as colonelism: the title of colonel appeared in the imperial period, but with the proclamation of the Republic the colonels continued with the social, political and economic prestige they exercised in the vicinity of the locations of their properties rural areas. They were the local political bosses and exercised bossiness over the population.
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The colonels always exercised the policy of exchanging favors, keeping under their protection a huge number of political godsons, in exchange for strict obedience. Generally, under the tutelage of the colonels, the godchildren were the main political articulations. In areas close to his rural property, the colonel controlled all electoral votes in his favor (these places became known as “electoral corrals”).
During elections, all the godsons (dependents) of the colonels voted for the candidate their godfather (colonel) supported. This control of political votes became known as the halter vote, present throughout the First Republic, and it was what kept the rural oligarchies in power.
During the First Republic, the market had an agro-export character and the main product of the Brazilian economy was coffee. In 1929, with the fall of the New York Stock Exchange, the Brazilian coffee economy faced a huge crisis, as the large stocks of coffee caused the price of the product to suffer a sharp reduction, which caused the biggest Brazilian financial crisis during the First Republic.
In the 1930 Revolution, Getúlio Vargas took power after a political coup he led together with the Brazilian military. The reasons for the coup were the manipulated elections for the presidency of the Republic, which the São Paulo candidate Júlio Prestes had obscurely won over the other candidate, the Getúlio Vargas from Rio Grande do Sul, who, not accepting the situation, carried out the political coup, ending once and for all the Oligarchic Republic and the political supremacy of the São Paulo oligarchy and mining.
Leandro Carvalho
Master in History
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
OAK, Leandro. "Oligarchic Republic"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/republica-oligarquica.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
