Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca is known to have been the first president of Brazil, ruling the country from 1889 to 1891. The government of Deodoro da Fonseca is divided by historians into two phases: provisional and constitutional. This command was troubled and was marked by one of the worst economic crises in the history of Brazil and by disagreements between the president and parliamentarians.
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How did Deodoro da Fonseca become president?
Deodoro da Fonseca became president of the country as a direct consequence of the proclamation of the Republic, which happened on November 15, 1889. The marshal, who was a monarchist, was persuaded, on November 10, to join the movement that was being formulated to overthrow the ministerial cabinet, until then occupied by the Viscount of Ouro Preto.
The marshal, convinced, mobilized troops and, on 15 November, carried out the overthrow of the cabinet through the arrest of the Viscount. At the end of that day, political negotiations resulted in the proclamation of the Republic by JosephofSponsorship, at the City Hall of Rio de Janeiro. After that, a GovernmentProvisional who decided to appoint the marshal as provisional president of Brazil.
The appointment of Deodoro da Fonseca to the presidency was provisional until a constitution was formed and a new presidential election took place. The establishment of the Republic in Brazil inaugurated a phase of our history known as the First Republic, and the first five years of this were pejoratively named asRepublic of the Sword.
Provisional Government (1889-1891)
With the appointment of Deodoro da Fonseca to the presidency, the Provisional Government began, which lasted 15 months. During this period, one of the major government concerns was that of replace the great monarchic symbols by republican symbols and guarantee the interests and privileges of the elite. that composed it.
In this matter of symbols, historians Lilia Schwarcz and Heloísa Starling point to the replacement of names that referred to the Empire of various places. Thus, numerous places in Rio de Janeiro had their names changed, the printed money was changed, and the name of Rio de Janeiro as "court" was changed to "federal capital"|1|.
The new government sought to support itself in as many republicans as possible, and thus government positions were occupied entirely by republicans, such as RuiBarbosa, BenjaminConstant and fieldsSales. The idea was to support the new regime in politicians and republican people, thus promoting the removal of monarchists from the functions of power.
Historian Renato Lessa even stated that it was not only during the government of Deodoro da Fonseca that there was this concern in dismantle the institutional mechanisms of Empire. This was a recurrent concern of the first ten years of the First Republic, and that included the governments of Floriano Peixoto and Prudente de Morais|2|.
With that, followed the extinction of the Constitution of 1824, of the Council of State, of the Senate, of the provincial assemblies, for example, besides the royal family itself having been expelled from the country. This adaptation of the country to the new model of government meant that these first ten years were marked by great political instability.
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Economic crisis
The natural difficulties of building a new government based on improvisation were already enormous. Politically, Brazil was very divided and there were numerous interests at stake, and the situation was further aggravated by a political crisis that extended throughout the 1890s: the Stranding.
The Encilhamento was the result of the administration of the Treasury carried out by the minister RuiBarbosa. The minister realized that, at the time, the amount of currency circulating was insufficient to meet the new situation in the country, mainly due to the fact that 700 thousand people (ex-slaves) are now wage earners.
Was necessary increase the amount of coin in circulation in the country. Thus, Rui Barbosa issued the Banking Law on January 17, 1890, without telling the president or other members of the government. With this law, it was authorized that some private banks would have the right to issue paper money and mechanisms were created to encourage the capital market (stock exchange).
O result was disastrous, and the country was marked by a strong economic crisis that resulted in an increase in financial speculation on the stock market and a rise in inflation. The effects of the Encilhamento corroded the image of the government of Deodoro and extended to the government of Prudente de Morais (1894-1898).
Constitutional Government (1891)
The constitutional phase of Deodoro's government was the result of the call for an election in June 1890 for the formation of a AssemblyConstituent. This election took place in September, and the Assembly took office in December 1890. It was made up entirely of members of the country's middle class and elites.
The works of this Constituent Assembly resulted in the promulgation of the Constitution of 1891, which determined a series of changes in the country, such as the prohibition of the illiterate vote, the universal male vote, the imposition of the Three Powers, the imposition of the federalism and a permanent clause (not subject to modification) that prohibited the return of the country to the regime monarchical.
With the promulgation of the new Constitution, a indirect presidential election. The main candidates for president were the military DeodorantgivesPhonseca and the civil PrudentinMorals, and, vice versa, the main names were of two soldiers: EdwardWandenkolk and florianofish. Those elected were Deodoro da Fonseca, for president, and Floriano Peixoto, for vice.
Deodoro's Constitutional government, however, lasted only nine months. This is because the president was unwilling to govern within a republican system and sought to exercise his power in a centralized and authoritarian. As a result, the president increasingly lost support in the legislature.
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End of Deodoro da Fonseca's government
The lack of tact in relating to the Legislature made the relationship between the president and the congressmen worse. The president tried to appoint an oligarch, to occupy the Ministry of Finance, known as baroninLucena. The baron, however, was a monarchist and his appointment angered the republicans.
In November 1891, Deodoro da Fonseca, in his authoritarian impetus, decided to dissolve congress Brazilian. This was the president's response to Congress's attempt to pass a law reducing presidential powers. The president's action, however, violated the 1891 Constitution.
The situation thereafter became chaotic, and the military and civil parliamentarians organized against the president. Historian Margarida de Souza also mentions that Deodoro da Fonseca had to deal with a railway strike in Rio de Janeiro and the outbreak of RevoltgivesArmada|3|, which demanded the reopening of Congress and threatened to bomb the capital if this was not done.
Fearing that the country would be involved in a civil war, the president opted to leave office, and on November 23, 1891, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca resigned from the presidency of Brazil. A political agreement between the parliamentarians guaranteed that the deputy, Floriano Peixoto, would assume the presidency and consolidate the Republic in Brazil.
Grades
|1| SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and STARLING, Heloísa Murgel. Brazil: A Biography. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2015, p. 318.
|2| LESSA, Renato. The invention of the Republic in Brazil. In.: CARVALHO, Maria Alice Resende de (org.). Republic in Catete. Rio de Janeiro: Museum of the Republic, 2001, p. 17.
|3| NEVES, Margarida de Souza. The scenarios of the Republic. Brazil at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. In.: FERREIRA, Jorge and DELGADO, Lucilia de Almeida Neves. Brazil Republican: the time of oligarchic liberalism: from the Proclamation of the Republic to the 1930 Revolution. Rio de Janeiro: Brazilian Civilization, 2018, p. 32.
Image credits
[1] Aleksandar Todorovic and Shutterstock
