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Dom Pedro II (pron. IPA //; Pedro Segundo meaning "Peter the Second"), Emperor of Brazil (December 2, 1825 – December 5, 1891) was the second and latter Brazilian Emperor. His name in full was Pedro de Alcântara João Carlos Leopoldo Salvador Bibiano Francisco Xavier de Paula Leocádio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Bragança, By the Grace of God and Unanimous Acclamation of the People, Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender of Brazil.

He was born on December 2, 1825 in Rio de Janeiro, making him Brazil's only native-born monarch.

The Regency

When he was a boy of five, Pedro became the emperor of Brazil. His father Pedro I abdicated the throne on April 7, 1831, after violent protests in Brazil against his careless handling of internal affairs, to fight a civil war in Portugal. The aim of the war in Portugal was to restore the throne of Portugal to Maria II, older sister of Pedro II.

As a result of caring for his children's interests, in 1834, the warrior father Pedro I had a daughter of 15 on the throne of Portugal and a son of 9 Pedro II who was emperor of Brazil.

During the Emperor's childhood, a series of regents administered the government, in accordance with Constitution. In 1840, the Brazilian Imperial Parliament, or General Assembly, abolished the regency and declared Pedro to be of age to govern. Though only 14, Pedro already had a reputation as a judicious ruler, and the Imperial Parliament hoped that his popularity would quell the regional revolts that had rocked Brazil in the 1830s. Emperor Pedro II was consecrated and crowned on July 18, 1841.

Family Life

Dom Pedro II was married on September 4, 1843 to Princess Teresa of the Two Sicilies (1822–1889), the youngest daughter of King Francis I of the Two Sicilies (1777–1830) and had four children:

The Liberal Emperor

Pedro II ruled Brazil for 49 years under the slogan "União e Indústria" (Union and Industry). The period saw the beginnings of industrialization, the first paved roads, the first steam-engine railway, a submarine telegraphy cable, and the introduction of the telephone. He traveled to the United States and attended the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, where Alexander Graham Bell showed him his new telephone. Pedro II probably was the first Brazilian to use the invention. He recited Shakespeare's classic line from Hamlet, "To be or not to be" into it, and exclaimed, "This thing speaks!".

Liberal in outlook, Pedro II took steps to end slavery; the final abolition edict, the Golden Law, was signed in his absence by his daughter Princess Isabel, on May 13, 1888. Pedro II also took pains to learn Guarani, the most widely spoken indigenous language in nineteenth-century Brazil. He was widely respected by Brazilians of all social levels as an enlightened monarch who ruled in a principled, rational, moderate fashion. Historian Thomas Skidmore has compared Pedro II to Queen Victoria, another nineteenth-century monarch who was popular for similar reasons.

Though reputed to be an enlightened monarch, Pedro II nonetheless retained extensive power over the Brazilian government. Under the Brazilian Constitution of 1824, the emperor possessed Poder Moderator (Moderating Power), i.e. the power to temper the will of Brazil's representative government. In practice, this meant that Pedro II had the right to veto legislation, dissolve the lower house of the legislature (the only one that was elected), and call new elections at his pleasure. Pedro II generally respected the wishes of the electorate, but his favoritism towards the Conservative party in 1868 marred his reputation for evenhandedness. The unexpectedly long and costly Paraguayan War of 1865-1870 also diminished his popularity.

In the wake of the Paraguayan War, the monarchy increasingly became seen as an obstacle to modernization and economic growth. Liberals called both for greater regional autonomy and for republican government. Recognizing the inevitable, Pedro II acquiesced in the military coup d'etat of November 15, 1889. He and his family went into exile in Portugal, and Brazil created a new federalist, republican government under the Brazilian Constitution of 1891.

Pedro II died on December 5, 1891 in Paris, France. His and his wife's remains were taken to Brazil in 1922, and were reburied in Petrópolis, their former summer residence, in 1939.

Books

  • Barman, Roderick J. Citizen Emperor: Pedro II and the Making of Brazil, 1825–1891. 1999.
  • Brown, Rose. American Emperor: Dom Pedro II of Brazil. 1945.
  • da Costa, Emilia Viotti. The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories. 2000; 1985.
  • Schwarcz, Lilia Moritz. The Emperor's Beard: Dom Pedro II and His Tropical Monarchy in Brazil. Trans. John Gledson. 2003.
  • Skidmore, Thomas. Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

See also

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Pedro II of Brazil".

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