Moderados

This Brazilian political party that initially dominated the Regency (1831–1840), imposing decentralization and a limited monarchy. Liberal monarchists had joined more radical elements to oppose Pedro I's pretensions and Portuguese interests during the First Reign (1822–1831). They sought to force Pedro I to accept greater parliamentary participation and more freedom for men of property to direct affairs in their provinces. When Pedro's abdication brought them to power, they elected the three regents who governed for the emperor's child heir, Pedro II. Class prejudice, monarchism, and provincial revolts soon forced them to break with the radicals (1831–1832) and elect Diogo Antônio Feijó (1784–1843) as sole regent in 1835. Simultaneously, they reformed the Constitution of 1824 with the Additional Act (1834), which curbed the crown and devolved power to parliament and provincial electors.

Personal resentment of Feijó and unchecked threats of provincial secession and social revolt soon disenchanted the moderados' right wing. They made a reactionary parliamentary alliance with former supporters of Pedro I, and they founded the Conservative Party in 1837. Feijó resigned, and the Conservative majority elected Pedro de Araújo Lima, later Marqués de Olinda, sole regent in 1837. The minority moderado left wing, known as the progressistas, joined the old radicals in support of the 1834 reforms and Feijó, thus forming the Liberal Party.

See alsoBrazil, The Regency; Pedro I of Brazil.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Octávio Tarqüinio De Sousa, Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcellos e seu tempo (1937), Historia de dois golpes de estado (1939), and Diogo Antônio Feijó (1942).

Roderick Barman, Brazil: The Forging of a Nation, 1798–1852 (1988).

Additional Bibliography

Dolhnikoff, Miriam. O pacto imperial: Origens do federa-lismo no Brasil. São Paulo: Editora Globo, 2005.

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.

Peixoto, Antonio Carlos, Lucia Maria Paschoal Guimarães, and Maria Emília Prado. O liberalismo no Brasil imperial: Origens, conceitos e prática. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Revan, 2001.

                                      Jeffrey D. Needell