Additional Act of 1834

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Additional Act of 1834

Additional Act of 1834, amendment to the Brazilian Constitution of 1824 that decentralized the system of government. The act created legislative provincial assemblies, elected regency, and abolished the Council of State. It gave provincial assemblies power to indict provincial presidents and magistrates; jurisdiction over civil, judicial, and ecclesiastical organizations; control of taxation, revenue, public education, public works, and police force; ability to create and abolish positions; and permission to contract loans. The autonomy given to provinces weakened the central government, fueled centrifugal forces, and nearly caused the dissolution of the state. Its interpretation in 1840 abolished the most decentralizing provisions and permitted political, administrative, and judicial recentralization.

See alsoBrazil: 1808–1889; Brazil, Constitutions.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Roderick J. Barman, Brazil, the Forging of a Nation, 1798–1852 (1988), pp. 160-216.

Additional Bibliography

Jancsó, István. Brasil: formação do estado e da nação. São Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 2003.

Needell, Jeffrey D. The Party of Order: The Conservatives, the State, and Slavery in the Brazilian Monarchy, 1831–1871. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2006.

                                         Lydia M. Garner

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Additional Act of 1834

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