The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0012/00120.txt

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$Unique_ID{bob00120}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Brazil
Chapter 1C.   The First Republic}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Jan Knippers Black}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{president
government
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sao
first
coffee
political
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}
$Date{1982}
$Log{See Table A.*0012001.tab
}
Title:       Brazil
Book:        Brazil, A Country Study
Author:      Jan Knippers Black
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1982

Chapter 1C.   The First Republic

The Military Government

     Fonseca formed a provisional government that served until a republican
constitution was adopted. The other major figures were General Benjamin
Constant as minister of war, Ruy Barbosa as minister of finance, and Manoel
Ferraz de Campos Sales as minister of justice, all of whom would remain
politically active for decades. Among its first acts, the provisional
government separated church and state, instituted religious freedom and civil
marriage, and abolished titles of nobility. All records pertaining to slavery
were destroyed, thereby ending any hope by former slave owners that they would
be compensated. Foreigners resident in Brazil on the day the republic was
proclaimed automatically became Brazilian citizens unless they chose
otherwise. A new national flag was adopted, which bore the motto "Order and
Progress"-an expression of the positivist belief that it was possible to
combine the chief value of the conservatives, order, with that of the
liberals, progress. Municipal and provincial assemblies were dissolved and
replaced with appointees of the national government, usually military
officers. The Chamber of Deputies was dissolved and the lifetime Senate,
abolished.

     In an attempt to promote economic development, Barbosa took the country
off the gold standard. A great deal of monetary speculation occurred,
including the issuance of stocks by phantom companies, and severe inflation
developed. Fonseca proved less than competent as provisional president, and
the entire cabinet resigned when the old soldier insisted on awarding a public
works contract to a personal friend. Unused to disorder and personal
criticism, the marshal appeared to have regretted he ever joined the
republican movement.

     A constituent assembly was elected in 1890 to draw up a republican
constitution. Barbosa was the prime drafter of the document, which was
approved in February 1891. It was closely modeled on the separation of powers
system of the United States, calling for a president and vice president to be
elected for four-year terms and a cabinet to be responsible to the president
rather than to the bicameral Congress. Members of the Senate would serve a
nine-year term, and members of the Chamber of Deputies, three years. The
provinces became states in a federal system and possessed considerable power,
including that of establishing export taxes and maintaining their own
military forces. (In fact, despite the assignment of financial matters,
foreign affairs, and national defense to the federal government, the 20 states
were to become the centers of republican political life.) Each state elected
three senators, and the vote was given to all male citizens over 21 years
of age who were neither illiterates nor paupers. The constituent assembly was
empowered to elect the first president and vice president of the republic, and
despite the reputation for incompetence that Fonseca had acquired, the
assembly chose him rather than take the chance that the choice of a civilian
would be unacceptable to the army.

     Peixoto was named vice president, and he immediately began plotting to
succeed Fonseca. Conflict soon developed between the president and Congress,
primarily because of the president's desire to centralize authority, a goal
that was opposed by the congressional majority. Fonseca therefore staged a
coup, dissolving Congress and assuming dictatorial powers. The leading figures
of the navy, admirals Eduardo Wandenkolk and Custodio Jose de Melo, joined the
congressional majority and Vice President Peixoto in organizing a countercoup.
The ships moored in Guanabara Bay, under the command of Melo, threatened to
bombard Rio if Fonseca did not give up his post. Thus the first president of
the republic resigned, and the presidency passed to Peixoto.

Peixoto as President

     Peixoto, soon dubbed "the Iron Marshal," managed to consolidate the
republican government against threats of a monarchic restoration, federalist
revolts, and threats to his own position. Self-possessed and determined, he
was conciliatory or ruthless as the occasion demanded. The constitution
provided that new elections should be held if the president resigned within
the first two years of his term, but the new president brushed aside demands
for such an election. Peixoto at times argued that the provision did not apply
to the first term under the new constitution, and at other times he insisted
that elections were not possible in such troubled circumstances.

     Barbosa was Peixoto's leading parliamentary opponent, quitting the Senate
in protest when the president dismissed all of the state governors who had
sided with Fonseca. Persistent supporters of Fonseca were arrested, and when
Barbosa demanded that the Supreme Court issue writs of habeas corpus to free
the political prisoners, Peixoto drily observed that any judge granting such a
writ would shortly find himself in need of a writ of habeas corpus, with no
judges left to grant it. Officers who petitioned him to hold a presidential
election, as provided in the constitution, found themselves prematurely
retired, and troops who rebelled in January 1892 were dealt with severely.

     The major threat facing the regime was a civil war that erupted in Rio
Grande do Sul in June 1892 over the control of the governorship. The war
widened when Gaspar da Silveira Martins, who would have been the emperor's
last prime minister if the revolution had not occurred, returned from exile
in Uruguay to lead a rebellion ostensibly in favor of federalist and
parliamentary principles but perhaps with the ultimate aim of restoring the
empire. Peixoto supported the "positivist dictator" of Rio Grande, state
governor Julio de Castilhos. The leading naval officers, including Admiral
Melo, sympathized with Silveira Martins. Melo resigned as minister of the navy
and led the navy into revolt. Unsuccessful in their attempt to blockade Rio
de Janeiro, partly because foreign powers, including the United States,
refused to recognize the blockade, many of the naval rebels took two
Portuguese ships to Buenos Aires, where they moved on to join the troops of
Silveira Martins in Rio Grande do Sul. In retaliation Peixoto broke diplomatic
relations with Portugal. The federalists were defeated, partly with the aid of
a republican militia force from Sao Paulo. Peixoto thus became regarded as the
savior of the republic, although his wholesale executions of the rebels
clouded his reputation somewhat. He was to survive his victory by only two
years, dying in 1895. His final triumph was to hold elections and transfer
power to his elected successor, the paulista Prudente Jose de Morais e Barros,
who thus became the first civilian president of the republic, taking office on
November 15, 1894 (see Table A).

[See Table A.: Chiefs of State, 1889-1930]

The Economy under the First Republic

     Economically, the First Republic, or Old Republic, was generally a period
of economic prosperity after the initial disorder and inflation of its first
years had been overcome. The export of rubber expanded greatly to rival coffee
as the country's principal export. Some industry developed, especially in Sao
Paulo. Meanwhile, a change took place in the sugar economy, with the
consolidation of many fazendas into larger holdings, sometimes under corporate
ownership centered on a sugar mill. This accelerated the transformation of
rural workers into a sort of rural proletariat. At the same time a change in
agrarian structure was taking place in the