Friday, August 13, 2010

#401 Brazil...Thanks Luciano!


The 2 stamps on the left are from 2008 National Heroes issue honoring Dom Pedro I and Jose Bonifacio de Andrada E Silva.

Pedro I (1798,Lisbon -1834) was the founder of the Brazilian empire and first emperor of Brazil, from Dec. 1, 1822, to April 7, 1831, also reckoned as King Pedro (Peter) IV of Portugal.

Generally known as Dom Pedro, he was the son of King John VI of Portugal. When Napoleon conquered Portugal in 1807, Pedro accompanied the royal family in its flight to Brazil. He remained there as regent when King John returned to Portugal in 1821.

Pedro surrounded himself with ministers who counseled independence. When the Portuguese Cortês (Parliament), preferring colonial status for Brazil, demanded that Pedro return to Lisbon to “complete his political education,” he issued a declaration of Brazilian independence on Sept. 7, 1822. Within three months he was crowned emperor.

Pedro's initial popularity waned, and in 1823, when the Brazilian Assembly was preparing a liberal constitution, he dissolved that body and exiled the radical leader José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva. On March 25, 1824, however, Pedro accepted a somewhat less liberal constitution drafted by the Council of State at his behest.

Although adoption of that charter may have saved Pedro from deposition, it did not reestablish his popularity. His autocratic manner, his lack of enthusiasm for parliamentary government, and his continuing deep interest in Portuguese affairs antagonized his subjects, as did the failure of his military forces in a war with Argentina over what is now Uruguay. Strong opposition in the Brazilian Parliament and a series of local uprisings induced him to abdicate in 1831 in favour of his son Dom Pedro II, who was then five years old. Pedro I then returned to Portugal.

On the death of King John VI (March 10, 1826), Pedro I had become titular king of Portugal as Pedro IV. Two months later, still in Brazil, he issued a parliamentary charter for Portugal and conditionally abdicated the Portuguese throne in favour of his daughter Maria da Glória, the future Queen Maria II. He died of natural causes in Portugal while securing his daughter's claim against that of his brother, the regent Miguel.

Jose Bonifacio (1763-1838) was a Brazilian statesman who played a key role in Brazil's attainment of independence from Portugal. He is known to Brazilians as the “Patriarch of Independence.”

Andrada went to Portugal as a student and became a distinguished scholar there, earning an international reputation as a naturalist and geologist. He remained in Portugal until he was 56, serving as a professor at the University of Coimbra and as the permanent secretary of the Lisbon Academy. He was deeply influenced by the principles of the Enlightenment.

Returning to Brazil in 1819, Andrada devoted himself to politics and quickly became the leading intellectual advocate of Brazilian independence from Portugal. More importantly, he became the chief adviser to the young prince regent, Dom Pedro (later the emperor Pedro I). He headed the ministry formed in January 1822 by Dom Pedro and supported Pedro in his determination that Brazil should be independent. After Pedro proclaimed Brazil's independence from Portugal (Sept. 7, 1822), Andrada became prime minister of the new empire of Brazil.

In the constituent assembly of 1823, Andrada's liberal political principles led him to oppose Pedro's Portuguese advisers, and consequently Andrada was exiled until 1829. He was then allowed to aid Pedro I once again, and he worked for the imperial cause even after Pedro's abdication (April 7, 1831). He became tutor to the child emperor Pedro II, and the liberal education that he gave Pedro II helped the latter become an effective and enlightened monarch. After being arrested in 1833 for political intrigue, Andrada retired from public life.

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