Constituent Cortes of 1820

The government installed after the Oporto Revolution, known as the Provisional Junta of the Supreme Government of the Kingdom,[1] decided to convene the Cortes and on September 1, 1820 set up a preparatory commission. On November 22, the Commission published instructions for the election of representatives to the Cortes, which were held in December 1820. The original instructions only provided for representatives from Portugal, ignoring Brazil and provoking great discontent. The instructions were then revised and re-issued in November, establishing the proportional representation that included in the overseas domains and abandoning the traditional division into three orders.[1]

The electoral method chosen by the Commission was closely modelled on the electoral system Spain under the Spanish Constitution of 1812. It involved a complex process of indirect suffrage through the formation of parish, county, and provincial electoral committees. Male citizens over the age of 25 (in some cases over 21 years of age) with a job, a trade or useful occupation, elected an electoral college who, in turn, chose county voters. These then met in the provincial capitals and elected the representatives to the Cortes, with one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants. Representatives were required to be at least 25 years of age. Despite the complexity of the process and inexperience of those operating it, the election was completed on Christmas Day 1820, with deputies elected in most provinces of Portugal. The remainder were elected in the following months.

These electoral criteria had the effect, in Brazil, of transforming the traditional captaincies into provinces. The first Brazilian province to declare its adherence to the Cortes was Pará on 1 January 1821, followed on February 10 by Bahia, Piauí, Maranhão and Pernambuco. Other parts of Brazil followed in due course. Representatives from Sao Paulo, Paraíba, Pará, Espírito Santo, Goiás and Ceará only joined the Cortes in 1822. Representatives from Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Norte, CIsplatina and Rio Grande do Sul did not take their seats in the Cortes, remaining in Brazil in demonstration of support to the regent Don Pedro.[1] in total 97 representatives and alternates were elected from Brazil.[2]

On 9 March, less than three months after its opening meeting, the Cortes approved the "Bases of the Constitution", a document later sworn to by King John VI of Portugal on July 4 immediately after his return from exile in Brazil. Based on this document the Cortes then drafted and approved the first Portuguese Constitution, which was approved on September 30, 1822. The Cortes met for the last time on November 4, 1822. Although the constitution of 1822 only remained in effect for a short time, it served as an inspiration for Portuguese liberalism, and even influenced the first republican constitution of Portugal, approved almost a century later. On November 4, 1822, the work of the General and Extraordinary Cortes of the Portuguese Nation ended, and it became an ordinary assembly on November 15, 1822.

In August 1821 the Cortes discussing a series of administrative measures to reorganize institutional power. Among other reforms the Cortes suppressed Brazil’s existing provincial governments and courts, and demanded the immediate return of the Prince Regent Don Pedro to Lisbon. These discussions began before the Brazilian representatives arrived on August 29 and marked the beginning of a policy of confrontation between Lisbon and the regency of Don Pedro. In addition trade relations between Brazil and Portugal became a point of divergence between deputies of the two kingdoms. To reconcile the different positions, in March 1822, a special commission of six Brazilian and six Portuguese representatives was established.[1]

The Brazilian representatives wanted a dual monarchy with Portugal and Brazil as federated elements in a single empire, while the Portuguese representatives wanted a unitary state. The polarization between two increased tension in the provinces, especially from January 1822 when Don Pedro decided to stay in Brazil. On 4 May a decree of Don Pedro established that no decision of the Cortes could be applied in Brazil without his assent. On September 23 and 24, the Political Constitution of the Portuguese Monarchy was signed by 39 of the 46 Brazilian deputies in office.[1]

The following representatives took part in the debates:

(Based on the "Lista Nominal dos Deputados do Brasil à Assembleia Constituinte de Lisboa de 1821 a 1823").[3]

On 23 September 1822 the constitution was approved. Among those voting in favour were 36 Brazilian representatives, including 25 from the northeast. This did not include the Brazilians who had abandoned the Cortes, like Cipriano Barata and Antônio Carlos de Andrada e Silva.[14]