Pedro II of Brazil

Birth

Pedro was born at 02:30 on 2 December 1825 in the Palace of São Cristóvão, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Named after St. Peter of Alcantara, his name in full was Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga. Through his father, Emperor Dom Pedro I, he was a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza (Portuguese: Bragança) and was referred to using the honorific Dom (Lord) from birth. He was the grandson of King Dom John VI of Portugal and nephew of Dom Miguel I. His mother was the Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria, daughter of Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor. Through his mother, Pedro was a nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte and first cousin of Emperors Napoleon II of France, Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary and Maximilian I of Mexico.

The only legitimate male child of Pedro I to survive infancy, he was officially recognized as heir apparent to the Brazilian throne with the title Prince Imperial on 6 August 1826. Empress Maria Leopoldina died on 11 December 1826, a few days after a stillbirth, when Pedro was a year old. Two and a half years later, his father married Princess Amélie of Leuchtenberg. Prince Pedro developed an affectionate relationship with her, whom he came to regard as his mother. Pedro I's desire to restore his daughter Maria II to her Portuguese throne, which had been usurped by his brother Miguel I, as well as his declining political position at home led to his abrupt abdication on 7 April 1831. He and Amélie immediately departed for Europe, leaving behind the Prince Imperial, who became Emperor Dom Pedro II.

Early coronation

Upon leaving the country, Emperor Pedro I selected three people to take charge of his son and remaining daughters. The first was José Bonifácio de Andrada, his friend and an influential leader during Brazilian independence, who was appointed guardian. The second was Mariana de Verna, who had held the post of aia (governess) since the birth of Pedro II. As a child, the then-Prince Imperial called her "Dadama", as he could not pronounce the word dama (Lady) correctly. He regarded her as his surrogate mother and would continue to call her by her nickname well into adulthood out of affection. The third person was Rafael, an Afro-Brazilian veteran of the Cisplatine War. He was an employee in the Palace of São Cristóvão whom Pedro I deeply trusted and asked to look after his son—a charge that he carried out for the rest of his life.

Bonifácio was dismissed from his position in December 1832 and replaced by another guardian. Pedro II spent his days studying, with only two hours set aside for amusements. Though Pedro II was intelligent, the hours of study were strenuous and the preparation for his role as monarch was demanding. He had few friends of his age and limited contact with his sisters. All that coupled with the sudden loss of his parents gave Pedro II an unhappy and lonely upbringing. The environment in which he was raised turned him into a shy and needy person who saw books as a refuge and retreat from the real world.

The possibility of lowering the young Emperor's age of majority, instead of waiting until he turned 18, had been floated since 1835. His elevation to the throne had led to a troublesome period of endless crises. The regency created to rule on his behalf was plagued from the start by disputes between political factions and rebellions across the nation. Those politicians who had risen to power during the 1830s had by now also become familiar with the pitfalls of rule. Historian Roderick J. Barman stated that by 1840, "they had lost all faith in their ability to rule the country on their own. They accepted Pedro II as an authority figure whose presence was indispensable for the country's survival". When asked by politicians if he would like to assume full powers, Pedro II accepted. On the following day, 23 July 1840, the General Assembly (the Brazilian Parliament) formally declared the 14-year-old Pedro II of age. He was later acclaimed, crowned, and consecrated on 18 July 1841.

Religious Issue

Soon after returning to Brazil, Pedro II was faced with an unexpected crisis. The Brazilian clergy had long been understaffed, undisciplined and poorly educated, leading to a great loss of respect for the Catholic Church. The imperial government had embarked upon a program of reform to address these deficiencies. As Catholicism was the state religion, the government exercised a great deal of control over Church affairs, paying clerical salaries, appointing parish priests, nominating bishops, ratifying papal bulls and overseeing seminaries. In pursuing reform, the government selected bishops who satisfied its criteria for education, support for reform and moral fitness. However, as more capable men began to fill the clerical ranks, resentment of government control over the Church increased.

The bishops of Olinda and Belém (in the provinces of Pernambuco and Pará, respectively) were two of the new generation of educated and zealous Brazilian clerics. They had been influenced by the ultramontanism, which spread among Catholics in this period. In 1872, they ordered Freemasons expelled from lay brotherhoods. While European Freemasonry often tended towards anti-clericalism, things were much different in Brazil where membership in Masonic orders was common—although Pedro II himself was not a Freemason. The government headed by the Viscount of Rio Branco tried on two separate occasions to persuade the bishops to repeal, but they refused. This led to their trial and conviction by the Superior Court of Justice. In 1874, they were sentenced four years at hard labor, although the Emperor commuted this to imprisonment only.

Pedro II played a decisive role by unequivocally backing the government's actions. He was a conscientious adherent of Catholicism, which he viewed as advancing important civilizing and civic values. While he avoided anything that could be considered unorthodox, he felt free to think and behave independently. The Emperor accepted new ideas, such as Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, of which he remarked that "the laws that he [Darwin] has discovered glorify the Creator". He was moderate in his religious beliefs but could not accept disrespect to civil law and government authority. As he told his son-in-law: "[The government] has to ensure that the constitution is obeyed. In these proceedings there is no desire to protect masonry; but rather the goal of upholding the rights of the civilian power." The crisis was resolved in September 1875 after the Emperor grudgingly agreed to grant full amnesty to the bishops and the Holy See annulled the interdicts.

Pedro II and politics

At the beginning of the 1850s, Brazil enjoyed internal stability and economic prosperity. Under the prime ministry of Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão (then-Viscount and later Marquis of Paraná) the Emperor advanced his own ambitious program: the conciliação (conciliation) and melhoramentos (material developments). Pedro II's reforms aimed to promote less political partisanship, and forward infrastructure and economic development. The nation was being interconnected through railroad, electrical telegraph, and steamship lines, uniting it into a single entity. The general opinion, both at home and abroad, was that these accomplishments had been possible due to Brazil's "governance as a monarchy and the character of Pedro II".

Pedro II was neither a British-style figurehead nor an autocrat in the manner of Russian czars. The Emperor exercised power through cooperation with elected politicians, economic interests, and popular support. The active presence of Pedro II on the political scene was an important part of the government's structure, which also included the cabinet, the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate (the latter two formed the General Assembly). He used his participation in directing the course of government as a means of influence. His direction became indispensable, although it never devolved into "one-man rule." In his handling of the political parties, he "needed to maintain a reputation for impartiality, work in accord with the popular mood, and avoid any flagrant imposition of his will on the political scene."

The Emperor's more notable political successes were achieved primarily because of the non-confrontational and cooperative manner with which he approached both issues and the partisan figures with whom he had to deal. He was remarkably tolerant, seldom taking offense at criticism, opposition or even incompetence. He did not have the constitutional authority to force acceptance of his initiatives without support, and his collaborative approach towards governing kept the nation progressing and enabled the political system to successfully function. The Emperor respected the prerogatives of the legislature, even when they resisted, delayed, or thwarted his goals and appointments. Most politicians appreciated and supported his role. Many had lived through the regency period, when the lack of an emperor who could stand above petty and special interests led to years of strife between political factions. Their experiences in public life had created a conviction that Pedro II was "indispensable to Brazil's continued peace and prosperity."