Confederation of the Equator
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The Confederation of the Equator (Portuguese: Confederação do Equador) was a short-lived state established in the northeastern region of Brazil during that nation's struggle for independence from Portugal. The secessionist movement was led by wealthy landowners who opposed early reforms by the nation's first leader, Emperor Pedro I. Pernambuco and Ceará were the first of five Northeastern provinces to secede. [1]
The Confederation ceased to exist after being crushed by Brazilian forces under Thomas Cochrane. [2]
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[edit] Background of conflict
The rebellion in the Northeast followed a similar uprising in Pernambuco only five years earlier.
The main roots of the conflict may be drawn from Pedro's dissolution of the Constituent Assembly that he had convened because he believed that body was endangering his liberty to rule the country. As assembly members, his advisers, José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva and Dom Pedro's brothers, had written a draft constitution that would have limited the monarch by making him equal to the legislature and judiciary, similar to the president of the United States. They wanted the emperor to push the draft through without discussion, which Pedro refused to do. Troops surrounded the assembly as he ordered it dissolved. He then produced a constitution modeled on that of Portugal (1822) and France (1814). It specified indirect elections and created the usual three branches of government but also added a fourth, the moderating power, to be held by the emperor. The moderating power would give the emperor authority to name senators and judges and to break deadlocks by summoning and dismissing parliaments and cabinets. He also had treaty-making and treaty-ratifying power. Pedro's constitution was more liberal than the assembly's in its religious toleration and definition of individual and property rights, but less so in its concentration of power in the emperor.[3]
Before independence, North Brazil had been one of the two separate viceroyalties, Grão-Pará, besides the Viceroyalty of Brazil in the South. Dom Pedro combined the two into one Imperial State. However, the North was historically more averse to secession from Portugal and had fought to remain part of the Portuguese empire, before being defeated by Dom Pedro and being annexed. The Confederation was a second popular attempt.
Both the secession of Brazil from Portugal and the suppression of the Loyalist Viceroyalty of the North were aided by Britain, militarily and with personnel, such as Thomas Cochrane, on loan to Dom Pedro, a Freemason and Anglophile.
[edit] The Revolt
It is believed that the afore mentioned actions of Dom Pedro gave rise to the revolutionary movement. Its participants, presenting themselves as "Pernambucan patriots" did not agree on the Emperor's measures, and considered them to be overtly authoritarian. The movement gained impetus, challenging the central authority, and spread on the streets of Recife, and attracted foreigners as well.
The revolt, known as "Anti-Lusitanian," found its leader in Manuel de Carvalho, who had participated actively in the in 1817 Pernambucan Revolution, and afterwards, exiled to the United States, and afterwards becoming an admirer of that country. On 2 June 1824, Carvalho proclaimed the Confederation, with the ambition of uniting all provinces from Bahia to the region of Grão-Pará.
[edit] Aftermath
Pedro I sent troops to the Northeast to quell the rebellion, with all three provinces falling by September of that year. The state of Ceará managed to survive until November, and the last stronghold of the Confederation in the Sertão was the site of the final resisting leaders of the fallen nation.[4]
Several rebels were condemned by a military tribunal to death. One notable execution was that of Frei Caneca an intellectual and religious mentor supporting the cause of the Confederation, in which some soldiers refused to fire. After briefly escaping, he was eventually executed in 1825. [5]
[edit] Flag of the Confederation
Based on contemporary accounts, the flag had a sky-blue field with the coat of arms of the separatist republic. The coat of arms consisted of a square yellow "shield" surrounded by branches of sugar cane and cotton. On the square was a white circle with the words "Religião, Independência, União, Liberdade" (religion, independence, union, liberty) separated by square bundles of rods, presumably the lictor's rods of the Roman fasces. On the center of the white circle was a smaller blue circle divided by a horizontal white stripe, and thereon a red cross bottony, which Ribeiro says the report incorrectly described as "floretty." Four white stars flanked the lower arm of the cross, two above the white stripe and two below. Nine more white stars were arranged in a semicircle at the bottom of the blue circle. Issuing from the top of the yellow square was a red staff ending in a hand with the eye of Providence on the palm, encircled by six more white stars. Finally, at the top of the flag, was a white scroll with the inscription Confederação (confederation). [6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ A Confederação do Equador, Brazil From multirio.rj.gov.br. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ A Confederação do Equador, Brazil From multirio.rj.gov.br. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ Confederation of the Equator From onwar.com. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ A Confederação do Equador, Brazil From multirio.rj.gov.br. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ FREI CANECA From .historianet.com.br. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
- ^ Flag of the Confederation of the Equator From crwflags.com. Retrieved June 28, 2006.
