Era of Independence Essays

Era of Independence Essays Era of Independence Essay Era of Independence Essay Essay Topic: Cry the Beloved Country Independence or death! l stay. l say to the people that I am staying! (Independence of Brazil) All three of these statements were made by Doom Pedro to the Brazilian masses as he attempted to free them from the incompetent hands of Portugal. Doom Pedro crowned himself emperor of Brazil with an almost Napoleon-like Eire, however that was the most radical aspect of this revolution. Braziers run for independence was not a full-scale assault on dependency, as Gordon Wood describes, but four generations of a Royal, Portuguese family who decided that Portugal was a colony of Brazil, not the other way around. When Brazil gained Independence, the common people were still on the bottom, the landholding elite were still on the top, and the slaves still worked the fields just as they had during the colonial era. Liberty was achieved without the expensive, drawn-out wars that many other countries in Latin America experienced (Independence of Brazil). After the Brazilian gained their freedom, one to two percent of the population still owned much of the land, there was no middle class to speak of, and 33% of the population were slaves In their chains. Independence for Brazil came In two parts; one when they were impolitely separated from Portugal, and the much more difficult phase, when reforms made the entirety of Brazil a truly free nation with slavery banned. (Kidders) Like many countries runs for independence, Braziers started with Napoleon deciding that he was the emperor of Europe. This of course included Great Britain, a force with Portugal and an eventual motive for abolishment of slavery (Francis). Brutal was Portugal main trading partner, ally since 1373, and most importantly. Earliest protector. As an act of defiance that showed support to Britain, Portugal refused to join the Continental System, which lead to the invasion by Napoleons army. Because of this invasion, the entire Royal Court was pressured to journey to Brazil for refuge. Britain compelled Brazil to open for trade and told the prince regent, Doom Jiao VI, to flee to Portugal. This would work twofold as a way to defy the French as well as Institute a base o f financial stability In the colony. Luis dad Chunk, a financial counselor, suggested to the Prince Regent, It Is about time for Your Majesty to see that Immense content of Brazil as a resourceful and well- populated country {in which you could establish}. On November 27, 1 807, the Portuguese Council of State that included Doom Jiao VI, the whole court including 10,000 courtiers, religious leaders, lawyers, military advisors, and 9,000 sailors off on an unparalleled, 4,500 mile Journey that would lead to the first European monarch to set foot on his own New World colony in addition to be to first to settle In a seat of power (Solders). This stride toward Independence was an Inadvertent one because when the court arrived in ROI, they elevated it to the capital of the entire Portuguese empire. This remained true even as Napoleons forces were driven out of Portugal and Jiao VI stayed in Brazil. On December 16, 1815, Jiao VI declared that Brazil was an equal to Portugal (Made). This development gave the Brazilian pride as well as However, the parliament of Portugal demanded that Jiao VI return to Portugal or lose his seat of power. Parliament also wanted to return Brazil to being a colony, rather than an autonomous country that held the Emperor and seat of power. His parting advice to his son, Doom Pedro, who he abdicated to, was to always side with Brazil if there was strife. A possible reason for this is that Brazil and Doom Pedro would be in more control over the abolishment of slavery, and not have to be objected to the will of the British, thus have given Brazil more autonomy. (Kidders) This is exactly what happened in 1822, when Doom Pedro refused the demand that he return to Portugal with the Cry of Piranha, Independence or death! (Keen and Haynes). When military forces came to Portugal he cried the Foci, or l stay, which made the Brazilian population adopt Doom Pedro as their own. He had declared that Brazil was free from Portugal and was crowned the Emperor Pedro I (Independence of Brazil). It was not Just the valiance of Doom Pedro and his lack of desire to be separated from Portugal that fueled independence. One factor was the shining examples of independence that Brazilian were hearing of; United States from Britain and other Latin American colonies from Spain. This, combined with Enlightenment ideas, proved to Brazilian that freedom was possible (Hamilton). More importantly, the lack of a bourgeoisie and economic stimulation angered many Brazilian. This was in part due to mercantilism. The Crown refused to allow the colony to manufacture, therefore there was no manufacturing class, as well as local merchants had little to no role in overseas exports (Kidders). This problem was fed by the continuation of slavery. The tendency to identify labor with slavery sharply limited the number of socially acceptable occupations in which Portuguese or free mixed blood could engage. This gave rise to a populous class of vagrants, beggars, poor whites, and other degraded or disorderly elements who would not or could not compete with slaves in agriculture and industry, (Keen and Haynes). Because of this tendency, there was Just the slaveholders and slaves involved in the economy with the middle class nonexistent. Made stated that The master class and the entire Brazilian economy relied on the work of slaves. If slaves did everything, many of the white owners did very little. Finally, it was British pressures that forced the Doom Padres son as well as heavy conscience, Doom Pedro II began to enact laws to abolish slavery. The British had pushed for abolishment, even threatened with removal of resources and trade, since the beginning, however the dependency on slaves prevented Brazil from complying. In 1831, a law passed under the English influence to ban the slave trade, however manumission caused the ban to be ineffectual (Kidders). Doom Pedro II passed concrete laws that liberated slaves, however the landowners and farmers were displeased. They lost the only viable workforce, which subjected them to higher prices for manpower. Finally, it was Princess Isabel, Doom Padres daughter, who passed the official law that abolished slavery on May 13, 1888. (registry). Gordon Wood described the American Independence movement as a full-scale assault on dependency. This is because in the monarchical system of both Brazil and America, there was a strict hierarchy while the independence movement strove to make every man independent. In Woods eyes, there was not a more radical turn of events than the upheaval of the social hierarchy that had been in independence movement, was a progression that the revolutionaries hoped {would} decapitate the social order while leaving the structure intact . In this scenario the wealthy Portuguese would simply leave, and the wealthy Brazilian would take their place, (Made). The elite did not want anything other than to have their autonomy, especially so that they could continue their thriving slave trade that fueled the country. Doom Jiao, aside from his love for Brazil, both sparked and halted the independence movement when he told Doom Pedro to remain with Brazil which led Pedro to declare independence in 1822. His main motivation curbed complete freedom; Brazil would not be under Portugal thumb who was under Britains thumb. The British were proponents of abolishment and if Brazil stayed a colony, their slavery system would have been cut off far sooner. But like many nations that depended on agriculture for their economy, Brazil depended heavily on slave population. From the beginning of Braziers existence to 300 years later, African slaves were the main workforce. They worked the coffee and sugar plantations as well as various other ranches that dappled the nation. This is a stark contrast to the Southern United States, where some or most of the slaves were the workers, Braziers slaves, on the other hand, were all of the workers in the urban and rural areas throughout the entire country (Made). Slavery stunted the economic development of Brazil because a middle class could not develop as the slaves were the most plentiful workforce available. This was debilitating and stunting the economic development. What the late abolishment of slavery within Brazil says about the hierarchy is that it was a key part, not Just because of the workforce but also because the elite were posh people who fed on luxury. As Todd Edwards wrote, Braziers Leonia elite could not imagine a Brazil without slavery. This goes back to the revolutionaries not wanting to topple the system, but Just take Portugal and the influence of England out. Abolishment was necessary so that plantation owners could begin to hire and work the majority of Brazilian who sat idle and in need of work. Abolishment created the needed bourgeoisie. As Gordon Wood said, equality did not mean that everyone was in fact the same, but only that ordinary people were closer to wealth and property to those above them and felt freer from aristocratic patronage and control than did common people elsewhere in the Western World. When Brazil first declared its independence, people chanted Doom Padres name in the streets and he was beloved. However, as time went on and the shiny luster of a new found independence faded, Brazilian realized that nothing was any different than when they were a colony. In respects to Gordon Woods statement of what a full-scale assault on dependency, is, the Brazilian did not have a radical independence movement where they upturned social norms. It was only after the British intervened that slavery, the indicator of freedom, was abolished and Brazil was truly made free.