What was the Regency of D.Peter I?
THE Regency of D. Peter I (then just called D. Peter, as he had not yet been acclaimed emperor) took place between March 7, 1821 and September 7, 1822. During this period, D. Pedro was at the head of power in Brazil as a direct representative of Portugal.
Meeting of the Portuguese Courts and the situation in Brazil
It was on March 7, 1821 that D. João VI received, in Rio de Janeiro, the decree calling the Portuguese Courts to travel immediately to Portugal. A year earlier, groups of military and civilians from Portugal organized the Porto Revolution, which demanded the political restructuring of Portugal after the whirlwind of warsNapoleonic that radically transformed Europe from 1804 to 1815. The formation of the Portuguese Courts had the objective of giving a new Constitution to Portugal.
D. João VI and D. Pedro, even before the first returned to Portugal, had to take a public oath, on February 21, 1821, accepting the bases of the new Constitution. It happened, however, that there was a great risk that the absolutist political positions of some Portuguese deputies prevail, which could represent the end of the United Kingdom of Portugal and Algarves and the return of Brazil to the condition of Cologne. Furthermore, the text of the constitutional bases was not being fully respected by the Portuguese.
As historian Isabel Lustusa says:
[…] it was becoming clear to Brazilians that the action of the Portuguese Cortes with regard to Brazil was aimed at the project of reducing the country to the conditions prior to the arrival of the king. One of the provisions of the constitutional bases approved and sworn in on March 7, 1821, in Lisbon, established that, while the Brazilian deputies, the Constitution would only be valid on the American continent when its representatives manifested that this was theirs. will. But even before the deputies arrived in Portugal, the Cortes began to get involved in the affairs of Brazil. [1]
Adherence to the Brazilian cause and Independence
D. Pedro I was in a kind of “crossfire”, as he was heir to the Portuguese throne, but at the same time he saw the expectations of the Brazilian political elites deposited in his person. In addition, there was on the part of his wife's family, D. Leopoldina, belonging to the House of Habsburg, Austria, that a new empire be established in South America, even linked to Portugal, but autonomous.
The main Brazilian political actors who fought to convince D. Pedro I to remain in Brazil and defend Brazilian interests were members of Shopsmasonic. Among them were José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva, Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo and José Clemente Pereira. The very D. Pedro was initiated into Brazilian Freemasonry with the aim of forming an alliance with its members to face the Portuguese reaction to independence. The historian Otávio Tarquínio de Sousa says that when D. Peter became Archon King in the Masonic Apostolate founded by Boniface:
[…] he swore first to defend by all means the integrity, rank and independence of Brazil as a kingdom and the legitimate constitution of the State and then “to promote with all his strength and at the expense of life itself and farm, the integrity, independence and happiness of Brazil as a constitutional kingdom, opposing both the despotism that alters it and the anarchy that dissolves it.” [2]
Leopoldina's performance, in the passage from 1821 to 1822, was also decisive for D. Pedro not only remained in Brazil, but also for him to defend and engage in the independence process. It was even through her hands that the decree of September 2, 1822, which marked the official rupture between Brazil and Portugal, came to light. Leopoldina's decision was taken during the absence of D. Pedro in Rio de Janeiro. The then regent had traveled to the province of São Paulo to settle political disagreements that were taking place there. Leopoldina remained as regent, in place of her husband, and decided to break with the ministers of D. Peter. The break came about with the "Ipiranga's Cry”, on September 7, in São Paulo.
GRADES
[1] LUSTOSA, Isabel. D. Pedro I – A hero with no character. Companhia das Letras: São Paulo, 2006.
[2] SOUSA, Otávio Tarquínio de. “The life of Dom Pedro I” (volume 2). In: History of the Founders of the Empire (Volume II). Federal Senate, Editorial Board, 2015. P. 373.
By Me. Cláudio Fernandes
