After the abdication of Regent Feijó, a new election was held in April 1838. Among the main competitors for the position of regent were the liberal Antônio Francisco de Paula Holanda Cavalcanti and the Pernambuco farmer Araújo Lima. In a period when the first revolts against the government exploded, the victory of the conservative Araújo Lima was consolidated without major problems.
Composing a strictly conservative cabinet, Araújo Lima's regency represented the setback of liberal conquests achieved with the approval of the Additional Act of 1834. Under his rule, the first revolts were considered a consequence of the freedoms offered by the Additional Act. Thus, in May 1840, the so-called Interpretative Law of the Additional Act was ratified, which revised some points of the 1834 reform.
With the reform, the provinces lost part of their political-administrative attributions. Under the new law, the central government would have the right to appoint civil servants and police and justice officials. Amid the revolts and great political defeats, the liberals united around the project of anticipating the crowning of Dom Pedro II.
Gathered in the so-called Club of Majority, the liberal representatives argued that the arrival of Dom Pedro II to the throne would offer conditions for the political problems and revolts to be finally contoured. As the conservatives lacked the ability to resolve the existing problems, the campaign in favor of anticipating the Second Reign gained more and more strength.
In July 1840, no longer resisting liberal pressures, the regency government came to an end with the coronation of the young Dom Pedro II. This episode became known as the Coup of Adulthood. Even though the coup represented an advance of the liberal wings, the beginning of the Second Reign did not configure a structural reform of the political practices of the time.
Linked to the landlord elite, both liberals and conservatives, united around the same political project in the Second Reign. Thus, the end of the regency did nothing to remodel the privileges and rights guaranteed to the old social groups that controlled the country.
By Rainer Sousa
Graduated in History
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/historiab/regencia-una-araujo-lima.htm
