Brazilian Presidential Elections of the First Republic, 1889-1930
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Cable, Olympia (1976) Brazilian presidential elections of the first Republic, 1889-1930. PhD thesis. 2nd ed., digitized 2005. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2384/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] BRAZILIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF THE FIRST REPUBLIC 1889-1930 by Olympia Cable Submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the University of Glasgow, 1976. 2nd Edition, digitized 2005, © Olympia Cable This is an electronic version of the thesis published in 1976 and has been copy-edited to ensure faithfulness to the original. This version was prepared by Olympia’s family after her passing in 2001. It does not account for publications by other authors after 1976. Please send any suggestions or corrections to [email protected]. -iii- LIST OF CONTENTS Page Dissertation Abstract v Acknowledgements xiv The States of Brazil 1889-1930 xv PART I: A SURVEY OF THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 1889-1930 Chapter One: The Political System of the Old Republic 1-48 1889-1930 PART II: A DECADE OF IDEOLOGICAL STRIFE 1891-1898 Chapter Two: The Ideological Conflict. The Presidential 49-88 Election of 1891 and 1894 Chapter Three: The Radicals in Opposition to the Adesistas 89-116 and the Moderate Republicans 1894-1898 PART III: REGIONAL RIVALRY: THE PERIOD OF CONSENSUS IN PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS 1898-1906, 1918-1921 Chapter Four: Consolidation of the Republic. The 117-138 Presidential Election of 1902 Chapter Five: The Presidential Election of 1906: Interstate 139-157 Rivalry and the Convention of Taubaté Chapter Six: The Presidential Election of 1910: The 158-205 Kindergarden-Bloco Conflict, Military Intervention and the Civilista Campaign Chapter Seven: The PRC – Salvationists Struggle for 206-249 Political Ascendancy. The São Paulo-Minas Gerais Pact of Ouro Fino for Political Stability. The Elections of 1914 and 1913 Chapter Eight: The Political Interlude. The Election of 1919 250-271 PART IV: REGIONAL RIVALRY: THE IMPOSITION OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES Chapter Nine: Again Regional Strife and Military 272-320 Involvement in Presidential Politics. The -iv- Elections of 1922 and 1926 Chapter Ten: The Election of 1930: The Minas-São Paulo 321-383 Schism, the Aliança Liberal, Federal Intervention and Civil War Conclusion 384-385 Bibliography 386-394 -v- DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Unlike the Imperial and post-1930 periods in Brazilian history, the first Republic (1889- 1930) for a long time attracted little attention. In recent years however there have been attempts to reappraise the way in which the political, economic and social system of the first Republic functioned. This thesis contributes to the study by looking at the twelve presidential elections between 1889 and 1930. For students of political systems, that of the first Republic is of special interest. The Republican politicians of São Paulo evolved a unique system of political control - the política dos governadores (politics of governors) - an informal understanding between the states and the Federal government that in return for compliant Congressmen, the authority of the incumbents in the states would be sustained by the Federal administration. Whilst maintaining the trappings of a liberal democratic system enshrined in the Constitution - in the form of regular direct elections - it enabled a minority elite landowning oligarchy to continue in power in the states, whilst at national level the regional interests of the coffee economy were assured. This detailed study of presidential elections throws some light on the way in which the política dos governadores operated. The presidential elections were a focal point of national politics. The Presidency was of central political importance during the period. Although the Constitution of 1891 had instituted a Federal Republican form of government with extensive state autonomy, it had also given the Federal government the right to intervene in the states. This together with the inability of the majority of the states to manage their internal affairs, made the Presidency the key to controlling the states. The Republicans had also discarded the parliamentary form of government of the Empire in favour of a Presidential system and despite the nominal separation of powers, the dominance of the executive over the legislative and judicial -vi- branches was soon apparent. The subordination of Congress was further institutionalized by the política dos governadores. As Congressional approval of the President's nominations to the Supreme Federal Tribunal - Supreme Court - also became a formality, the compliance of the Judiciary which was responsible for deciding on the constitutionality of executive policies, was likewise guaranteed. The Presidency was in addition the major source of economic decision making affecting the states; monetary affairs were the exclusive preserve of the Union, and it was also allocated the major sources of revenue. Not surprisingly the succession question often dominated the second half of a President's term in office affecting his administrative programme. One former President, Campos Sales, noted that the elections were the "axis on which national politics revolved". This thesis tries to answer the following questions: What factors influenced the selection of candidates? How was the support of a majority of states obtained for a Presidential and Vice-Presidential nomination every four years? Why were opposition coalitions sometimes formed to contest the majority ticket, and how were the opposition candidates in turn selected? This thesis also looks at some areas that have received little serious attention: the composition and powers of the Nomination Conventions and the election manifestos published by them and their candidates; the conduct of election campaigns, and the use of fraud, violence and political repression in contested elections. Finally, the election data are for the first time analyzed in detail. Chapter One first looks at how the political system operated within the states and then at the varying political influence of the states within the Federal system. A study of electoral statistics and of electoral returns not only confirms the conventionally held view that the corrupt political practices of the Empire continued in the states after 1889, but has -vii- also provided a more comprehensive picture of how the electoral machinery was controlled by the coronéis in the municípios (the bosses at local level) and by the oligarchs in the state capitals. Part II of Chapter One classifies the twenty states according to their ability to influence the election of Presidents. Taking the Republican period as a whole, a threefold classification rather than the more usual twofold classification of states is supported: first, the dominant states São Paulo and Minas Gerais; second, the intermediary states Bahia, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro and Pernambuco; third, the remaining fourteen satellite states. The Federal Capital is considered as a separate category. Part III examines the factors that enabled the dominant states to secure the selection and election of their candidates and presents a model of the way in which political control at national level was achieved. Chapters Two to Ten deal with the Presidential elections in chronological order. It has been asserted that regional rivalry dominated Presidential elections. However Chapters Two to Four show that this was not an issue in the first three elections (1891-1902). Regionally this was the period of paulista hegemony in national politics, the ruling elite of other states being concerned only to secure their position internally during this period. Chapters Two and Three examine the ideological differences which dominated Republican politics and the Presidential elections of 1891-1898. Chapter Four looks at the way the ideological conflict was resolved with the institutionalization of the política dos governadores and how the system was operated by the President to secure his successor in 1902. Regional rivalry first became an issue in the Presidential elections of 1902 and as Chapters Five to Ten show, except for the election of 1910, regional conflict was the dominant factor in the elections from 1905 to 1930. -viii- It is generally believed that in the regional competition for the Presidency the two states of São Paulo and Minas Gerais worked together, their mutual interest in the coffee economy making them natural allies. It is also maintained that the alliance was founded on a rotation of the Presidency between the two states. Though it is not always specified when this co-operation was initiated, it is assumed that it was the outcome of the Convention of Taubaté in 1906. However Chapter Five argues that regional rivalry and opposition to paulista hegemony assured Minas the Presidency in 1906 and that, as it happened in that year, São Paulo was politically weakened by the internal schism over the issue of coffee valorization - price support for coffee - and was forced to surrender its claim for a fourth Presidential term in return for a valorization scheme. This thesis also argues that the election of a mineiro President in 1906 brought a new policy orientation to the Republic. Chapter Six also shows that there was no attempt to impose a paulista President at the next election (1910) as would have been expected if the principle of rotation had been established at Taubaté, neither in fact were regional interests a major factor in this Presidential contest as has been asserted by those who argue that Marshal Hermes was a candidate of Rio Grande do Sul.