Editing Pedro I of Brazil (section)

=== Endless crises ===
[[File:Emperor Dom Pedro I 1830.jpg|thumb|upright=1|alt=Engraved half-length portrait showing a young man with curly hair who is wearing an elaborate brocade military tunic with epaulets, a striped sash of office and medals|Pedro&nbsp;I at age 32, 1830]]
Since the days of the Constituent Assembly in 1823, and with renewed vigor in 1826 with the opening of the [[General Assembly (Brazil)|General Assembly]] (the Brazilian parliament), there had been an ideological struggle over the balance of powers wielded by the emperor and legislature in governance. On one side were those who shared Pedro&nbsp;I's views, politicians who believed that the monarch should be free to choose ministers, national policies and the direction of government. In opposition were those, then known as the Liberal Party, who believed that cabinets should have the power to set the government's course and should consist of deputies drawn from the majority party who were accountable to the parliament.<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Barman|1988|pp=114, 131, 134, 137–139, 143–146, 150}},
* {{harvnb|Needell|2006|pp=34–35, 39}},
* {{harvnb|Macaulay|1986|pp=195, 234}}.
</ref> Strictly speaking, both the party that supported Pedro&nbsp;I's government and the Liberal Party advocated [[Liberalism]], and thus [[constitutional monarchy]].<ref>See:
* {{harvnb|Macaulay|1986|p=229}},
* {{harvnb|Needell|2006|p=42}},
* {{harvnb|Barman|1988|pp=136–138}}.
</ref>

Regardless of Pedro&nbsp;I's failures as a ruler, he respected the Constitution: he did not tamper with elections or countenance vote rigging, refuse to [[Countersign (legal)|sign]] acts ratified by the government, or impose any restrictions on freedom of speech.{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|pp=x, 193, 195, 219, 229, 221}}{{sfn|Viana|1994|p=445}} Although within his prerogative, he did not [[Dissolution of parliament|dissolve]] the Chamber of Deputies and call for new elections when it disagreed with his aims or postpone seating the legislature.{{sfn|Viana|1994|p=476}} Liberal newspapers and pamphlets seized on Pedro&nbsp;I's Portuguese birth in support of both valid accusations (e.g., that much of his energy was directed toward affairs concerning Portugal){{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=229}} and false charges (e.g., that he was involved in plots to suppress the Constitution and to reunite Brazil and Portugal).{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=244}} To the Liberals, the Emperor's Portuguese-born friends who were part of the Imperial court, including [[Francisco Gomes da Silva]] who was nicknamed "the Buffoon", were part of these conspiracies and formed a "[[Shadow government (conspiracy)|secret cabinet]]".{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=243}}{{sfn|Calmon|1950|pp=155–158}} None of these figures exhibited interest in such issues, and whatever interests they may have shared, there was no palace cabal plotting to abrogate the Constitution or to bring Brazil back under Portugal's control.{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=174}}

Another source of criticism by the Liberals involved Pedro&nbsp;I's abolitionist views.{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|pp=216–217, 246}} The Emperor had indeed conceived a gradual process for eliminating slavery. However, the constitutional power to enact legislation was in the hands of the Assembly, which was dominated by slave-owning landholders who could thus thwart any attempt at abolition.{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=215}}{{sfn|Lustosa|2006|pp=129, 131}} The Emperor opted to try persuasion by moral example, setting up his estate at Santa Cruz as a model by granting land to his freed slaves there.{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=214}}{{sfn|Lustosa|2006|p=131}} Pedro&nbsp;I also professed other advanced ideas. When he declared his intention to remain in Brazil on 9 January 1822 and the populace sought to accord him the honor of unhitching the horses and pulling his carriage themselves, the then-Prince Regent refused. His reply was a simultaneous denunciation of the [[divine right of kings]], of nobility's supposedly superior blood and of racism: "It grieves me to see my fellow humans giving a man tributes appropriate for the divinity, I know that my blood is the same color as that of the Negroes."{{sfn|Macaulay|1986|p=108}}{{sfn|Lustosa|2006|pp=128–129}}