Liberal Revolution of 1820 (Porto)
Portuguese officers at Porto proclaimed a constitutional revolution in August 1820 and the king was in Brazil. The court had fled to Rio de Janeiro in 1807 ahead of a French invasion and had stayed after the war ended, which left Portugal governed by a regency council under a British marshal, Beresford, with British officers in the senior commands. Brazil had been raised to the status of a kingdom equal with Portugal in 1815, and Lisbon merchants found that they were now the province of their own colony. The rising began at Porto among officers of the garrison, spread to Lisbon within weeks, and met no resistance; Beresford was refused permission to land on his return from a visit to Rio. A constituent assembly elected on a wide male franchise wrote a constitution in 1822 modelled on the Spanish one of 1812 — a single chamber, ministers responsible to it, and the king's veto merely suspensive — and abolished the Inquisition and noble privilege. It also demanded that Brazil return to colonial status and that the king come home. João VI came home; his son Pedro stayed, was told to return, and declared Brazilian independence in September 1822 instead. The constitution was overturned by an absolutist reaction in 1823, restored, and fought over in a civil war from 1828 to 1834. Portugal spent the century alternating between the two. The revolution therefore lost Brazil, which was the opposite of its intention, and Portugal spent the rest of the century as a small and indebted country instead of the metropolis of an Atlantic empire. Brazil's independence was recognised in 1825 for a payment.
- Year: 1820 CE
- Category: Political
