page_title: History of the Empire of Brazil
section_title: A troubled regency
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Empire of Brazil / Early years / Regency / A troubled regency
caption_attribution_description: Português: Diogo Antônio Feijó (1784-1843), um sacerdote católico e estadista brasileiro.
context_page_description: The land now known as Brazil was claimed by the Portuguese for the first time on 23 April 1500 when the Navigator Pedro Álvares Cabral landed on its coast. Permanent settlement by the Portuguese followed in 1534, and for the next 300 years they slowly expanded into the territory to the west until they had established nearly all of the frontiers which constitute modern Brazil's borders. In 1808 the army of French Emperor Napoleon I invaded Portugal, forcing the Portuguese royal family into exile. They established themselves in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, which thus became the unofficial seat of the entire Portuguese Empire. On 12 December 1815 Dom João VI, then regent on behalf of his incapacitated mother, Queen Dona Maria I, elevated Brazil from colony to Kingdom united with Portugal.
  In 1820 the Constitutionalist Revolution erupted in Portugal. The movement, initiated by liberals, resulted in a meeting of the Cortes which had as its goal to draft the kingdom's first constitution. The liberals demanded the return of João VI, who had been residing in Brazil since 1808 and who had succeeded his mother as King in 1816.
context_section_description: Since Pedro II would only be 18 in 1843, an elected regency was created to replace the emperor during his minority. Joaquim Nabuco, writing in the 1890s, remarked that the Brazilian republicans saw this period as their chance to prove that the country could survive in peace without a monarch as superior arbiter, as a neutral character above rival parties. However, this republican experience proved itself to be a complete disaster: as a republic, Brazil was no better than its Hispanic-American neighbors. The regency had little effective authority which resulted in nine years of chaos during which the country was plagued by rebellions and coup attempts initiated by unruly political factions.
  The Liberal Party which assumed power on 7 April had been only a loose coalition representing "disparate interests, united only by their opposition to Pedro I." Although they were called liberals various groups within the coalition championed one or another liberal ideal while others opposed these points preferring to promote other aspects of liberalism. The party soon split into two factions: the republicans (also known as the "Extremists" or "Tatters") which was a small but aggressive group and the "moderate" liberals. The moderate liberals consisted of a coalition of the Nativists whose main leader was the priest Diogo Antônio Feijó and the Coimbra bloc–so-called because many of its supporters had graduated from Coimbra University. The Coimbra bloc's main leaders were Pedro de Araújo Lima (later Marquis of Olinda) and Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos. Vasconcelos acted not only as a leader but also as a mentor to the younger generation of his faction which included Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão (later the Marquis of Paraná), Paulino Soares de Sousa (later the first Viscount of Uruguay) and Joaquim José Rodrigues Torres.
  There were also other, smaller groups not related to the moderates of which the most important were the restorationists (or Caramurus) who called for the return of Pedro I as regent for his son. Beyond the need to fight the restorationist threat the only other common interest uniting the Nativists and the Coimbra bloc into the Moderate Party was their support of federalism. The Brazilian constitution was overly centralized and this was one of the main reasons behind their opposition to the former emperor who was openly against any constitutional amendment. The Moderate Party believed that by granting more autonomy to the provinces it could placate discontent and extinguish any separatist threat.
  A constitutional amendment effecting greater decentralization was voted upon and approved in the Chambers of Deputies, but it still faced major opposition in the Senate. The priest Antônio Feijó planned a coup d’état in which he would assume dictatorial powers and the constitutional amendment would be enacted concurrently without the approval of the National Assembly (Parliament). On 30 July 1832 some Nativist deputies (in concert with Feijó) put a proposal before the Chamber that parliament be turned into a constituent assembly and that a new constitution be adopted using as part of their argument that the senate was filled with restorationist senators. The Deputy Carneiro Leão managed to successfully rally the other deputies against the Nativists' proposal and the coup attempt was crushed. The Coimbra bloc's firm actions prevented restriction of legal rights and kept Brazil from sliding into dictatorship during the regency even under the threat of rebellions and political crises.
caption: Diogo Antônio Feijó, regent, leader of the Nativists and later of the second Liberal Party. He staged a failed coup to rule as dictator in 1832 and was later arrested due to his involvement in the Liberal rebellions of 1842.
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