Pombal and the Atlantic Empire: political impacts of the foundation of the Royal Treasury

Abstract

The Pombaline government has a fairly consensual meaning. It encompasses a period marked by the gradual concentration of deciding faculties in the monarch and the leading ministers and by the general introduction of legislation designed to exert higher control over the civil society. It was also a time of cultural change as far as the political models were concerned. The corporative nature of the regime was definitely suppressed. However, the consolidation of power of the Crown in the second half of the 18th century is frequently left to be analyzed. There is still much to be learned about the particularities involved in this transformation, namely in regard to governing routines or practices. This study reexamines and discusses the centralization of the Pombaline politics. The study is especially concerned with the predicaments and resistances encountered by the process initiated by Carvalho e Melo. In order to meet this ambition I will address the coexistence of the Royal Treasury (Erário Régio) with the Boards of Royal Finance (Juntas da Real Fazenda) of Brazil, which together formed a cornerstone of the political reform and a gateway to the all-powerful minister intentions.