The Brazilian Republic: An Overview

Extract

Brazil came late to republican government. By 1889 Brazilians had witnessed almost a century of tumultuous politics in neighboring republics. The aspirations of the 1817 and 1824 separatists had been transformed as order and progress, the positivist creed, chased away the specter of social reform. In some ways Brazil itself had changed profoundly during the empire; yet in others it remained deeply rooted to its colonial past. The tension between tradition and change, between old alliances and new possibilities, highlighted the proclamation and consolidation of Brazil's republic. Political transition provided opportunity for widely differing groups to seek preeminence. The myth of a uniquely Brazilian peaceful transition to republicanism is shattered as we witness the power struggles that began on November 15, 1889. But one hundred years later it is the image of lost opportunity, the failure to seize the moment created by abolition, the absence of the povo from the process, that impresses those who experience another transition in Brazilian republican history.