“OBSERVE PUBLIC ORDER ACCORDING TO THE LAW”: works of Maranhão Presidency’s Council in the early years of the Brazilian Empire (1825-1829)

Abstract

Abstract: The political crisis that emerged in Brazil from the 1820s onwards allowed the development of the regional sphere of power by reformulating the scales of power and by creating new institutions within the provinces, henceforth the main administrative units that comprised the extensive imperial territory. In Maranhão, the determinations of the edict dated of October 20th, 1823, first published on such restructuring, were fulfilled by the end of the first elections in 1825, resulting in the election of six counselors to the Presidency’s Council (Conselho de Presidência), that would assist the presidents of the provinces, appointed by the Central Power, in matters of "administrative examination and judgment". Thus, based on the meeting minutes of this institution, in the documents exchanged with the main imperial instances and in newspaper articles from the period, we will analyze how the decisions made by the Presidency’s Council of Maranhão reverberated in the dynamic gestational process of the Brazilian Empire.

Keywords: Brazilian Empire. Province of Maranhão. Presidency’s Council. Regional sphere of power.