Creation of Captains: Don John VI, in a decree issued on July 8, 1820, advocated the creation of Captain Sergipe to ensure the prosperity of his kingdom.
He proposed measures that would suit his "good regime", but did not elaborate on which would be more suitable for the "good regime" of the kingdom. After determining which way, suitable for the "good regime" of the kingdom, was "exempted" from Sergipe's "submission" in relation to Bahia ** by means not explained in the document, the monarch decided to declare him independent.
This was done in order to obtain the already established administrative bodies of other captains, which would allow for faster communication with higher levels of authority and, therefore, greater flexibility in taking measures deemed necessary for the development of the new administrative units thus created.
The freedoms granted to the sesmarias also need to be given. But if this is the case, it is also necessary to admit that emancipation did not precede any broader debate, and that a wider social class was invited to participate.
The decision was ultimately issued to the monarch as a landowner, whose organization was aimed at reforming and exercising sovereignty confused with his own.
As indicated by the decree of September 16, 1817, this formula has been adopted before: in addition to the good institutions of this Kingdom of Brazil and the prosperity that I propose to elevate it, the province of Alagoas is freed from the Governor of Pernambuco and has its own **, proclaiming its use, to achieve this by the most convenient means.
Its land and circumstances can provide general benefits to the private individuals of the State and to the inhabitants, as well as to my royal farms: It is entirely possible to exempt from the obedience of the Pernambuco State Captain**, who, until now, has established an independent ** in the Captaincy system.
The **, in the form adopted by other independent captains, has the right to grant the esmarias on my true order, to deal with everything directly by the competent Secretariat of State.
In this decision, Don João was more specific, clarifying his expectations of the rulers of the new administrative units being created, maximizing the use of natural resources and their economic potential in order to achieve the maximum benefit, in favor of the Portuguese state, the inhabitants of the now liberated regions and the royal farms.
Four months ago, a movement challenging the former Portuguese regime was severely punished in Pernambuco, which guaranteed the restoration of order. This order was now threatened by news of the ongoing rebellion in the Spanish colonies.
To ensure the achievement of the goals outlined in the creation of a new captain, Sebastião Francisco de Mello Povas was chosen. The Povas family was closely related to Sebastião José de Carvalho Melo, Marquis de Pombal, who provided various services to the Portuguese crown in the military sphere.
Inheriting his family lineage, Povas accepted a career as an officer when he settled in the Royal Armalia in 1806, became a Marine in 1807, a second lieutenant in the Royal Navy in 1808, and was promoted to captain six months later.
In the administrative field, the chosen ones had already gained some experience during their reign in Rio Grande do Norte in 1811-1816.
This is a question about the administrative units of Portuguese America. Considered one of the least expressive, this command post originated with captains such as Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco or Bahia** and ended with those of less economic and political importance.
These appointments represent the monarchy's respect for individuals who come from the family if they are not on the main list of the empire, but have provided sufficiently relevant services to be remembered by the crown when decisions are made to fill public positions.
These appointments constituted the necessary counterpart to political and social relations, which retained various elements of the old vassal rules.
The monarch's decision was unquestionable, especially after the establishment of the Brazilian state in 1822, and the process of creating new provinces would be more complicated and time-consuming. The political structure of the Brazilian Empire was initially discussed in the constitutional plan and charter, and during the work of the Constituent Assembly, the topic was included in the broader discussion.
The discussion focused on whether the Brazilian Empire was a unitary or federal state, and whether decision-making on the policies adopted in all corners of the country should be monopolized by an exclusive regime, or whether it should be carried out under a system of distribution of state power between one and one province.
In this context, the issue of the territorial structure of Brazil will be further developed in the coming years. Evaldo Cabral de Mello argues that the issue of federalism was presented at the beginning of the 19th century as a "political sensitivity of the state of Pernambuco", a defense of very clear political and economic interests.
He argues that once the unity of the kingdoms of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves is disrupted, political units are free to agree to a new constitutional order, to unite them, or to take advantage of the right to form separately under the political system that best interests them.
Only the specific interests of each region can serve as a guide to the path to be followed, whether in the constitutive sense of the Constitutional Union, or in any other sense. The "parasite of the Portuguese Empire" gained even more strength with the transfer of the monarchy administrative appeal to Rio de Janeiro in 1808.
Since then, the captain and the economic elite there have established a privileged relationship with the royal family, to the detriment of all other members, becoming a real driving force for the economic development of the rest of Portuguese America.
This situation created a serious imbalance, which led to Rio de Janeiro being called the "parasite of the Portuguese Empire", attracting hatred from all the provinces. The people of the north, in particular, felt insignificant about the benefits gained by the new political situation, because they did not consider a reduction commensurate with the burden that belonged to the Lusitanian Empire.
According to Evaldo Cabral de Mello, the inability to tax most of the imports of Lusitania America due to the ** treaty signed with Great Britain in 1810, combined with the need to finance the establishment of a bureaucratic Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, led the royal family to impose higher fees on cotton and sugar production.
This new reality made it more difficult to comply with the ** of Rio de Janeiro, since the Bernambugans had to turn to another captain, and the previous equal relationship no longer existed.
According to Cabral de Mello, "the resentment of nativists leads them to believe that Lisbon is not in Lisbon, but in Rio de Janeiro.""。Thus, the creation of federalism was seen as an attempt to get out of the extremely bad situation in the rest of Portugal and America, especially in Pernambuco.
The emergence of the federal ** as a political regime ensures that each province manages its interests in the way that best suits them, thus putting an end to the rationale for sending large sums of money to Rio de Janeiro.
I firmly believe that these groups will support separatist proposals only if the solutions implemented after the closure of the Constituent Assembly fail. As such, it was a concrete manifestation of federalism, rather than the only existence at the time.