Was There Federalism in the Brazilian Empire? A Case of Contrast Between Federal State and Federalism in 19th Century

Leonam Liziero

doi:10.11114/ijlpa.v2i2.4646

Abstract

This article aims to demonstrate that there were federative relations during the Empire of Brazil, with some reform during the regency period. The methodology used to measure the results focuses on the use of bibliographic sources from the 19th century and from more recent studies on the scope of the article. In addition, the use of documentary sources is present, since legislation of nineteenth-century Brazil is used, in particular, the Additional Act of 1834, which gives name to the present work. Although expressly provided for in the 1824 Political Charter that Brazil would constitute a Unitary State, in practice the increased regional concentration of political power led to a functioning situation such as a decentralized federal State. To this end, it begins with a brief demonstration of the antecedents of the Constitution of 1824. It then proceeds to treat the provision of this Constitution about the political organization to finally discuss the effects caused by the Additional Act of 1834.

Highlights

It is necessary to start the discussion with a brief question of an epistemological matrix: only of connected, federal state and federalism are distinct objects
It was evident in the dispute between the groups that dominated the Brazilian politics, divided between those that defended the return to the Portuguese sovereignty and those that defended the independence of Brazil, that it was necessary the elaboration of a Constitution that could attend the interests of those groups, especially in the that referred to the limitation of the emperor's power
Viewed as a sociological concept, federalism was present in social relations during Imperial Brazil, as shown by this research

Summary

Introduction

It is necessary to start the discussion with a brief question of an epistemological matrix: only of connected, federal state and federalism are distinct objects. The diversity generated by such social cleavages is reflected in the political institutions of the State, and especially in the federal ones, formed by Constitutional Law and the object of the legal approach. Such federative institutions are, in each case, the result of a political arrangement. Like many things in Brazil, during a certain period of the Empire, still in the nineteenth century, Brazil functioned almost as a federal State in practice, even though it was formally a unitary state It is on this point that you will address this present work in the development that follows

Before 1824

The Legal Unitary in the Constitution of 1824

The Additional Act of 1834

Conclusions