History of Portugal (1834–1910)
Kingdom of Portugal and the Algarves Reino de Portugal e dos Algarves (Portuguese) | |||||||||
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1834–1910 | |||||||||
Anthem: Hino da Carta "Anthem of the Charter" | |||||||||
Capital | Lisbon | ||||||||
Common languages | Portuguese | ||||||||
Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||||||
Government | Constitutional monarchy | ||||||||
Monarch | |||||||||
• 1834–1853 | Queen Maria II(first) | ||||||||
• 1908–1910 | King Manuel II (last) | ||||||||
Prime Minister | |||||||||
• 1834–1835 | Pedro de Holstein (first) | ||||||||
• 1910 | António Teixeira (last) | ||||||||
Legislature | Cortes Gerais | ||||||||
• Upper house | Chamber of Peers | ||||||||
• Lower house | Chamber of Deputies | ||||||||
History | |||||||||
26 July 1834 | |||||||||
1 February 1908 | |||||||||
5 October 1910 | |||||||||
Currency | Portuguese real | ||||||||
ISO 3166 code | PT | ||||||||
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History of Portugal |
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Timeline |
Portugal portal |
The
The situation culminated in a dictatorship-like government imposed by
Devourism
The post-Civil War period of the
The post-Civil War period was characterized by a precarious executive office, a lack of ideological definition, the marginalization of popular movements, indiscipline and the intervention of military chiefs in politics.
Her counselors, aristocrats and nobles, still used the royal authority as a counterweight to the liberal revolution.[3][4] There were two political currents: the moderates who defended the Constitutional Charter of 1828, and those who promoted reinstatement of the democratic Constitution of 1822. Both parties were disorganized, neither felt solidarity with the monarch, and their ideologies were not clearly defined; politicians regularly swung between Vintista and Constitucionalista politics.[5] Meanwhile, the majority of the population were disenfranchised: illiterate and culturally unrefined, they merely supported whichever wind blew in their favor.[6] Education was available only in the cities, whose local merchants and bureaucratic functionaries had some sense of social mobility.
Economy
Economically, Portugal was no better off in the post-war era, it continued to derive its (diminishing) wealth from cultivation of the land, taxes and land rents, while neglecting development of a financial structure to make available the capital necessary for entrepreneurs to acquire machinery and sustain industry;[7] consequently, the economy stagnated. As late as 1910, only 1/5 of the workers in industries classified as "manufacturing" were employed in factories with more than 10 workers. The environment of small shops and handicraft operations was not conducive to labour unions.[8]
Politicians sponsored many small newspapers, which provided an outlet for numerous writers to debate economic questions and promote their particular reforms. Known as the "Generation of the 70s" the writers focused on political economy, and how the traditional economy could be stimulated to progress and growth. Important writers included
Today, the decline of the Portuguese economy towards the end of the 19th century is still traceable via anthropometric indicators, i.e. height. To this day, the Portuguese are the shortest Europeans. This divergence first became apparent during the 1840s and increased significantly during the 1870s. Two significant causes for this development can be identified. Firstly, Portugal's real wage evolution was slow as a result of comparatively late industrialization and slow economic growth performance. Secondly, scant investments into education led to delayed human capital formation (in comparison with other European countries). The thus arising Portuguese welfare deficit can be associated with the stagnating heights of the Portuguese.[11]
Innovation
The constitutional monarchy was marked by a series of legislative proposals by the government of the day, which had its base in the idealism of
Secularization
In 1834, Joaquim António de Aguiar terminated the state sanction of religious orders and nationalized their lands and possessions. Later referred to as Mata-Frades (Killer of Brothers), Aguiar's government took control of the convents, churches, manor homes and holdings of various institutes that had been sustained by donations of the religious faithful and placed them for sale. Although they hoped to place land and goods in the hands of the more disadvantaged, most of the poor did not have the capital to purchase them.[14] In fact, total sales were one tenth of what was expected, and most holdings were purchased by speculators or existing landowners.[15]
Municipalization
Another facet of the post-War era was the reorganization of existing administrative units, in order to centralize or decentralize them and then to reconcentrate power in the national government. The debate began in 1832, when
Civil Code
Portugal's civil code had been a chaotic and uncompiled system of laws since the Philippine Dynasty, and many realized that it required reform. Since early attempts to rationalize these laws failed, and a unified code based on the French Civil Code was disavowed in 1820, the Portuguese courts continued to function using the Ordenações Filipinas of 1603,[19] which amounted to a simplified reform of the Manueline codes of 1521.[20] A book of commentary on Portuguese law, A Propriedade: Filosofia do Direito (Property: Philosophy of Law), written by Judge António Luís de Seabra and published in 1850,[21] was adapted in 1867 as the new Portuguese Civil Code. It was unique among European civil codes in its characterization of the law in terms of person and property; it was divided into four sections: the person, property, the acquisition of property, and the defense of that property considered as legal rights.[22] This codification of Seabra's work would be enduring (1867–1967), and was the basis for Portuguese law regarding (in the terminology of the Code): the person as a juridical entity, promulgation of laws, property, crimes and judgments.[22]
Setembrismo and Cartismo
For the first two years, the Constitutional Charter was the law of the land, but the government and the opposition could not agree: Queen Maria II replaced the government four times, then finally dissolved Parliament and called new elections to bridge the impasse. The opposition saw the charter as the source of governmental inertia and political deterioration, and wanted to return to the 1822 Liberal Constitution.
The Queen fled to Belem to escape Septembrist control and initiated her own counter revolution, the Belenzada to restore the Charter with the support of Belgium and British naval forces,[24] in exchange for territorial concessions in Africa. Despite her announcement of the resignation of the government and the garrisoning of troops, Septembrist forces threatened to march on Belém.[25] The Belenzada (event in Belém), as it was known, failed.
In 1837, Marshals Saladanha and Terceira proclaimed the Charter in many of the garrisons of the provinces. This Revolta dos Marechais (Revolt of the Marshals) was provoked by the British, who supported the two, and lasted briefly from July through September, but resulted in many deaths.[25] After these events, Soares Caldeira, the civil leader of the original Setembristas, organized radical sections in the National Guard. Government forces eventually eliminated these forces on the night of 13 March 1838 in the Rossio massacre.[26]
During its short tenure, the Septembrist movement legislated the creation of public lyceums; the foundation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Lisbon and Porto, the Medical-Surgical School in Porto and the Polytechnic School of Lisbon. The liberal revolutionaries expanded the colonies in Africa, colonizing the plateaus of Angola, and in 1836 prohibited slavery. Finally, they attempted to reconcile the various political factions by establishing a revised Constitution (1838) with a compromise between the Chartists and the Septembrists. Parliament still had two chambers, but the Upper Chamber was made up of temporary elected and appointed senators.[26]
In 1842, a
Maria da Fonte
Unlike Septembrist initiatives that were centered on the district capitals, many of Cabral's programs affected the people of the country's interior directly. Cabral's moves once again decentralized government, placing the costs of health care, public finances and other sectors onto the tributary network, reinvoking the medieval system and subordinating local governmental authority. Two other initiatives, the forbidding of church burials and land assessment, were directly worrisome to the rural population, who were fearful of the government seizing their land rights.
The failed Septembrist politicians, realizing the political influence that the numerous cholera-infected peasantry could have on the government, used this fact to attack Cabral's government.
Patuleia
Meanwhile, the peasant uprising was co-opted by an undisciplined band of political and military elements backed by the small merchant class, pitting the Septembrists against the Cartistas in a civil war known as the
Regeneration
Between 1847 and 1851 nothing politically notable happened: nothing was legislated, there were few conflicts and parliament convened routinely.
Rotativism
Consequently, Portuguese politics entered a period of tacit coexistence between the parties.[33] While the Constitutional Charter did not change, the processes of government were modified: elections were made by direct suffrage, while Parliament could appoint commissions of inquiry into governmental acts. A wave of enthusiasm for national reconciliation swept the country, Cabral went again into exile and the country embarked on a program of internal improvements directed by Minister Fontes Pereira de Melo.[3]
Chartists and non-Chartists transformed into the Partido Regenerador (Regenerator Party) and the Partido Histórico (Historic Party), respectively, while later the reinvented Septembrists formed the Partido Progressista (Progressive Party). These two parties, Regenerador and Histórico, were centrist (i.e., center-right and center-left respectively) "liberal" organizations led by politicians dedicated to the monarchy and interested in economic reconstruction and solving the deepening financial crisis. Yet the years following 1868 were marked by continuous political disorder, although alliances were possible, and the preference for material progress and extensive public works damaged the State's finances: it was an illusory Regenerationist peace.[34]
This coalition against radicalism lasted until 1868, when insurmountable financial difficulties, turmoil in the streets and Parliament, and a succession of incompetent governments once again forced
In 1890, the British Government sent Portugal an ultimatum requiring immediate withdrawal of Portuguese troops from East and South Africa, from the territories some of which Portugal administered for centuries. The Portuguese government complied, which was widely seen by the population as a national humiliation.
Regicide of King Carlos I
On 1 February 1908 King
Manuel II would reign for only a short time, as republican forces continued to attack the monarchy and its institutions, even though the young king was considered a popular monarch. His unexpected accession to the throne (18 years of age), was marked by the brutal murder of his father and brother, yet his reign was pragmatic and respected the principles of the constitutional monarchy. Despite threats from the ultra-militant members of the Republican Party and the Carbonária, King Manuel courageously took responsibility for upholding the institutions of the State and the rule of law.
Although Manuel II was concerned with the Questão Social (Social Issues) of the day (the working class, social reform, and social security programs) he would have little time to enact many new initiatives.
5 October Revolution
After general elections on 28 August 1910, Republican party representation had grown only to 14 deputies in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Cortes. Even with support from other pro-republican parties, the Republicans were only able to muster closer to 40 seats in the Chamber, in comparison to the 120 pro-monarchist deputies. Nevertheless, these governments tended to be unstable, and during his reign Manuel II changed the government seven times.
Militant Republicans and their allies in the
Notes
- ISBN 978-0-299-07454-8.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 290
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Paulo Jorge Fernandes, et al. (2003), p. 6
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 290–291
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 291
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp.?291–292
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 292
- ^ Stanley Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2: 543–544
- ^ José Luís Cardoso, "Progresso material e civilização: a economia politica e a 'geração de 70' ["Material progress and civilization: political economy and the 'Generation of the 70s'"] Penelope: Revista de Historia e Ciencia Sociais (2001), Vol. 25, pp. 65–86.
- ^ Payne, A History of Spain and Portugal (1973) 2: 545–547
- ^ Stolz, Yvonne; Baten, Joerg; Reis, Jaime. "Portuguese Living Standards 1720–1980 in European Comparison: Heights, Income, and Human Capital". Economic History Review.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 292–293
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 293
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 294–295
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 295
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 292–296
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 296–297
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 297
- ISBN 978-1-4443-5753-0.
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 297–280
- ^ Revista da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa. A Faculdade. 1985. p. 398.
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 298
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 299
- ISBN 978-0-7391-9332-7.
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 300
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 301
- ^ a b James Maxwell Anderson (2000), p. 135
- ^ Edmund Burke (1845). Annual Register. p. 271.
- ^ a b c d José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 303
- ^ See note 213 in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: Volume 12 (International Publishers: New York, 1979) p. 666.
- ^ a b José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 305
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), pp. 305–306
- ^ José Hermano Saraiva, (2007), p. 306
- ^ Paulo Jorge Fernandes, et al. (2003), pp. 6–7
- ^ a b Paulo Jorge Fernandes, et al. (2003), p. 7
Further reading
- Anderson, James Maxwell (2000). The Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations: The History of Portugal. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-31106-4. online
- Birmingham, David (1993). A Concise History of Portugal (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-53686-3.
- Gallagher, Tom (1983). Portugal: a Twentieth-Century Interpretation. Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. ISBN 978-0719008764.
- Livermore, H.V. A New History of Portugal (2nd ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
- Payne, Stanley G. A History of Spain and Portugal (2 vol 1973) full text online vol 2 after 1700; standard scholarly history; Chapters 19, 22
Historiography
- Fernandes, Paulo Jorge; Menses, Filipe Ribeiro de; Baioâ, Manuel. "The Political History of Nineteenth Century Portugal," e-Journal of Portuguese History (e-JPH) (2003) 1#1 online
In Portuguese
- Saraiva, José Hermano (2007). História Concisa de Portugal [Concise History of Portugal] (in Portuguese) (24th ed.). Lisbon, Portugal: Colecção Saber.