Itaboraí, Visconde de (1802–1873)

Visconde de Itaboraí (Joaquim José Rodrigues Tôrres; b. 1802; d. 1873). Born into a landowning family of Rio province, Itaboraí graduated from Coimbra University in 1825 and became an instructor at the Rio Military Academy. A doctrinaire Liberal, he served as a minister in 1831 and 1833. Converted to Conservative views, he was prominent in the Regresso movement (1835–1839) in favor of central authority and law and order. He was elected a deputy in 1834 and was named a senator in 1844. After Pedro II's majority, Itaboraí served as minister in the Conservative cabinet of 1843–1844. On the Liberals' fall from office in 1848, he became minister of finance and, over the next five years, reorganized the fiscal system. He was prime minister from May 1852 to September 1853. Appointed president of the Bank of Brazil, he exerted considerable influence on monetary questions. In July 1868, Itaboraí formed a cabinet that, despite financial and political difficulties, brought the War of the Triple Alliance to a successful end. A fazendeiro (plantation owner) and opposed to any meddling with slavery, Itaboraí voted but did not speak against the Free Birth Law of 1871. Very much the intellectual in politics, Itaboraí was perhaps the most capable and is certainly the most understudied leader of Pedro II's reign (1840–1889).

See alsoWar of the Triple Alliance .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

João Lyra Filho, Visconde de Itaboraí, a luneta do império (Rio de Janeiro, 1986).

Additional Bibliography

Barman, Roderick J. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.

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.

                                     Roderick J. Barman