Liberal Revolution - Key points Flashcards
How did Liberalism develop in Portugal during the 1820s?
- 1820 revolt modelled on democratic Spanish revolution
- Increasing distance of Maria I after exile to Portugal - stayed in a world of absolutist ‘pious fantasy’
- Middle class euphoria due to arrival of the French
- New calls for agricultural reform by Royal bureaucracy
How did the independence of Brazil destabilise Portugal’s colonial system?
- Movement of Royal Family to Brazil
- Continental blocks and invasions means Portugal lost its important position in the international scene
- End of commercial monopoly over Brazilian ports
- Exiles and emigration, loss of skilled power, due to new appeal of Brazil
- National economy in deficit
How did the loss of Brazil in 1822 increase political tensions?
- Was the last straw for commercial bourgeoisie already hostile to liberal change
- New demands for return of absolutism
What were the conditions in 1823 which led to Miguel’s Vilafrancada uprising and beginning of the counter revolution?
- Holy Alliance had authorised a French invasion to bring down Spanish liberal government
- Absolutist uprising in north of Portugal led the party of the Queen to open revolt
What were the key impacts of the Vilafrancada?
- D.Joao uses uprising to disband Cortes and retake absolutist power
- Cortes disbanded, but ultra-reactionary faction prevented from coming into power by the king
- Miguel is made head of the Portuguese army, and proclaims his objective to eliminate all traces of liberalism
What was the Abrilada (1824)?
- Miguel used his power as head of the army to arrest top liberal figures.
- Joao gains support from diplomatic troops to dispose Miguel from his position and exile him, ending the conflict - the queen was placed under house arrest.
How did the death of Joao VI (1826) impact Portugal’s political situation?
- Country increasingly polarised between radicals and absolutists, symbolised by split between the Royal family (Pedro v Miguel/Queen)
- Pedro forms moderate 1826 constitution to support ascension of his daughter Maria to the throne
What were the main changes of the 1826 constitution?
- New wide power for royals, new authority to moderate between legislative, executive and judicial powers
- Monarch still forced to accept will of Cortes
- Pedro allowed Miguel re-entry as King on condition he married his niece Maria
- Creation of secondary chamber
How did Miguel I’s Return lead to Civil War
- Miguel immediately goes against constitution and usurps the crown
- Begins a regime of terror, exiling and imprisoning key liberal figures and supporters
- Pedro abdicates Brazilian throne and establishes and military base in the Azores
What were the two sides of the civil war and where did theyh gain support?
- Miguelistas: Common folk, large landowners and clergy. Established fear through violence, struggled due to lack of foreign support (anti-conservative turn in English and French Elections
- Liberals: Cortes + urban middle class. Supported by quadruple alliance.
How did the liberals eventually triumph in 1834?
- A mob in Lisbon rise up after a British commander destroys a royalist fleet off the southern coast
- They expelled Miguel’s garrison, captured the royal arsenal and mobilized political prisoners.
What was the political environment like after the Civil War?
- Tense and discontent - politics increasingly polarized, revolts over Carta moderation, deepened by dependence on England and inability to sell national goods.
Why was radical change seen as necessary after the Civil War?
- Cortes wanted to prevent the return of Miguel and Absolutism
- The continued existence of feudal type institutions were aggravating impoverishment of the peasantry - e.g customary extraction of crops, threshing tax and priory spoils (anti-clerical tone?).
How was agricultural policy developed after the civil war?
- New hostility towards property owners and religious institutins which had supported Miguel
- All crown lands taken over by the state to pay off national debt
300 male monastic orders abolished
Why did agricultural reform not revitalize Portugal as expected?
- Value of land fell as supply exceeded demand - cheap and plentiful land was appealing for large landowners to pursue extractive farming practices.
- Replacement of church hierarchy with new oligarchy of businessmen
- Large proportion of land still devoted to subsistence
- Confiscated ecclesiastical buildings not dedicated to public works, but used as luxury barracks for soldiers
What were the main causes of the Setembrista revolution?
- Chronic unemployment and struggle to integrate civil war fighters into economy
- Continued political instability saw greater need for educational reform, universal suffrage and industrial growth
Why was Sa da Bandeira a suitable figure for the liberal uprising?
- Member of cosmpolitan aristocracy + gained support of urban middle classes
- Hero of the civil war
- After exile in Brazil, England and the US, he had clear liberal left ideas and could prevent creeping reactionary ideas in the government-
What did the Setembrista 1838 Carta Establish? And what later reforms were seen?
- Direct suffrage, electoral reform and conceding of crown powers
- Primary education carried out in church buildings, founding of libraries and polytechnics, ecclesiastical registers replaced by civil ones.
Why did Costa Cabral’s entry into government instigate fear among Liberals?
- Was a confidant of the queen and supported increased power of the crown
- Restored links with Vatican while Minister of Justice
How did the political strucutre change after Costa Cabral took power in 1842?
- 1826 Carta reinstated
- Support from the queen meant increased power for the crown
- Influx of right-wing technocrats in government - Pombal style leadership, focus on capitalist gain and piblic works
- Iron fist rule, centralised military power and reduction of liberties
How was politics radicalised under Cabral?
- Reconfiguration of setembristas after failed military revolt
- Streghtening of Miguelista support among peasantry - new hostile environment with guerrila warfare and revolts
What were some key socio-economic changes experienced under Cabral?
- Increase of taxes and efforts to collect them to finance infrastructure - angered rural population
- Opening of Portugal to external markets to end reliance on Colonial trade
- Development of national infrastructure (e.g roads)
- But - increase of prices and foreign debt, continued reliance on England
Why was the economy at a consistent disadvantage despite new reforms?
- Long-lasting impacts of French invasions and continental blocks
- Ever-present deficiency after loss of Brazil, weakening of Bureaucratic apparatus
- Impacts of civil war - destruction of factories and seedbeds
- Budget deficit remained - public spending higher than fiscal revenue due to difficulty in collecting taxes (weakening of administration).
- Desperate economic situation meant subsistence farming remained hegemonic - lack of national development
What were the key triggers of the Maria da Fonte uprising?
- New efforts to create a strong national tax system under Cabral
- New hygiene laws preventing births in churches
- New attempts to enclose land and restrictive eligibility for land registry offices (illiterate struggled to gain legal representation)
- Aggressive bailiffs increasingly unwavering over private property
- Failure of American potato crop leading to distress and famine
What was the importance of the Maria da Fonte uprising for social development of the rural world?
- New desire to protect their land after influx of profitable Brazilian crops
- Significant role of women as owners of the land as men were driven to emigrate to be family providers
What were 3 key impacts of the Maria da Fonte revolution?
- Increased Anti-British sentiment - seen as more ethnically distinct and exploitative suppliers of highly priced material goods
- Established common cause with church - religion restored onto political agenda
- Social unrest and polarisation led to Costa Cabral’s fall from power
What was the political climate after the fall of Costa Cabral?
- Civil war of ‘Patuleia’ due to new radicalisation - popular uprisings and guerrilas in countryside + radical setembristas in the cities. Both set up radical juntas and Cortes forced to seek foreign support
- New generation of politicians not interested in radical demands due to fear of egalitarian principles - new focus on capitalist growth and market integration
What did the return of Saldanha in 1851 signify?
- A new age of regeneration with a cavalry officer at the helm - failure of Liberal movement to modernize the country
What were 3 central ideas among Portuguese intellectuals in the reconstruction of the ‘Povo’?
- Fernandes Tomas - Public opinion needs to be mobilised for true national representation
- Alexandre Herculano - an intelligent, hardworking, urban middle class should lead national construction
- Almeida Garrett - recognition of ‘lost societies’ and understanding of the marginalized will kickstart modernization
What was the importance of Romanticism in reinvigorating national visions?
- Recuperation of love for traditional society and rejection of modernism
- Idea of individual expression and liberation through history
- The ‘fatherland’ as an entity ‘crossing time’
- Creation of a universal Portuguese culture - ‘ideology of the nation’ crafted through a narrative of progress.
