Prudente de Morais: Brazil’s first civilian president, a key figure in the transition to democracy

The next election for state and federal executive and legislative positions is on Sunday, September 2.

This year, Brazil celebrates 133 years of the Republic. Part of this historical process that constituted democracy in the country can be known in Piracicaba, a city in the interior of São Paulo where one of the key figures of this political transition lived.

In the city, the political career of the first Civil President in the country’s history, Prudente de Morais, also one of the drafters of Brazil’s first Republican Constitution, was built.

“The house where I am was the stage for meetings between politicians and Republicans of the time to outline the future of Brazil; history lives here, in these rooms and halls of more than a century,” says Maurício Beraldo, historian of the Prudente de Morais Historical and Pedagogical Museum, based in the former home of the politician in Piracicaba.

The Republic was declared in Brazil in 1889, ending the Brazilian imperial period in which the government was a hereditary monarchy. With the Republic, the country started to be governed by three powers, the Legislative, the Judiciary, and the Executive.

Prudente de Morais was the first civilian to assume the presidency of Brazil, elected by popular vote, succeeding two military men who took power in the country’s political transition from empire to Republic – a historical and relevant character between the lines of the beginning of democracy in Brazil.

A POLITICIAN FROM THE BEGINNING

Prudente was born on October 4, 1841, in the lands of the Varejão district, former Itu (São Paulo), a region that currently belongs to Mairinque (São Paulo).

Son of José Marcelino and Catarina Maria de Morais, he lost his father at the age of five, murdered by a slave. He moved to the capital city of São Paulo, where he studied law at the São Paulo Law School (currently connected to the University of São Paulo – USP).

After graduating in 1863, he moved to Piracicaba, where part of his family lived, to look for work.

Prudente started early in politics. After working as a lawyer in the early years of his career, he was elected councilman for the municipality in 1864, belonging to the Liberal Party.

He later became president of the house, provincial deputy, senator, and governor.

While he was a politician in Piracicaba, Prudente had influence, even on the city’s name.

In 1877, still as an alderman, he changed the town’s name from “Vila Nova da Constituição” to Piracicaba, a name of indigenous origin that means “place where the fish stop”.

DEMOCRATIC IDEAS AND THE CONSTITUTION

The historian explains that the Liberalism and Enlightenment movements greatly influenced Prudente de Morais.

Shortly before, from 1789 to 1799, the French Revolution and industrial advances made the bourgeois elites seek alternatives to the centralized and archaic power of the European courts, and it was no different in their colonies.

In 1873, Prudente transferred to the Republican Party, which was guided by republicanism, abolitionism, and federalism.

“There at the university, people already had this more liberal notion. When the Republican Party was founded, he promptly transferred to the party. Prudente was always ahead of his time,” Beraldo points out.

“Prudente knew that monarchy was a backward regime. From the beginning in politics, his idea was to decentralize power, promote economic freedom with the rise of the coffee oligarchies, and yet, freedom.”

Considered the republic consolidator, Prudente was always an enthusiast for the Constitution, developing a form of governing similar to what is currently regarded as ideal by jurists.

“He, as president of the Senate, was responsible for organizing the Constituent and the meetings to define the politicians to make the Constitution, granting it in 1891.

“He, along with Rui Barbosa, provided the first Magna Carta responsible for leaving the State separate from the Church, which imposed freedom of worship, besides promoting education,” explains Beraldo, also a member of the Instituto Histórico e Geográfico de Piracicaba.

Prudente was responsible for getting the 1st Republican Constitution of Brazil’s history approved, in 1891, promoting the separation between Church and State, education, freedom of worship, and the division of powers between legislative, executive, and judiciary.

THE FIRST PRESIDENT ELECTED BY VOTE

Prudente was elected president in 1894. He ran for the Republicans, disputing the election with Afonso Pena.

He won with 276,583 votes in the election that followed the coup d’état by Floriano Peixoto, vice-president of the country’s first president, who assumed power after Deodoro da Fonseca resigned.

He was thus the first civil president in Brazil’s history to be elected by popular vote and the third general president in history, succeeding two military men.

Beraldo says that, in cartoons of the time, people talked about the president always being in trouble.

In the historical context, something new in Brazilian politics was being consolidated, which faced resistance from monarchists and the military, besides facing the Canudos War and the Federalist Revolution at the time.

“Despite consolidating the Republic, like everything new, the resistance was gigantic. These conflicts come from the beginning of the Republic because many still wanted the monarchy, and above all, the internal resistance was even greater,” adds the historian.

PRUDENTE’S HOUSE

The Prudente de Morais Historical and Pedagogical Museum is located at 641 Santo Antônio Street in Piracicaba, in a big house where the president once lived.

Besides living there, the place was also his political office, from the beginning to the end of his life, where he received personalities of the time, politicians, and coffee oligarchs.

The house was acquired unfinished, and its construction was completed in 1870.

According to information from the museum, the building’s lot included Prudente’s office and a large yard with a garden and orchard, with jaboticaba trees, which were planted at the request of the president at the time.

The building housed, after the 1930s, the Prudente de Morais Dentistry College, the Doutor Prudente School Group, and the Education Police Station, before housing the museum in 1957.

Today, the building is listed as a historical heritage site at the municipal, state, and federal levels. Besides the building, the collection corresponding to the Prudente de Morais Collection is also listed by the National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (Iphan).

The museum’s collection gathers objects and furniture that belonged to important figures from Piracicaba, among them Prudente de Morais, Luiz de Queiroz, João Sampaio, Barons of Serra Negra and Rezende, Sud Mennucci, Cobrinha, and Fabiano Lozano.

It is possible to visit Prudente’s political office on the property, which is attached to the house and was the setting for countless political meetings during the period of the Proclamation of the Republic, and to understand the timeline of his time as a Constituent and President.

The place also holds other exhibits and periods of municipal history, such as the agreement between Prudente de Morais and the Methodist Church to bring Methodism to the city.

During his time as president, Prudente organized the military campaign that won the Canudos war.

One of the rooms houses a timeline for the visitor to understand the period. During the conflict, the president suffered an attempt that almost killed him.

“This room is from the Canudos War in Belo Monte, Bahia. It was a watershed for him, culminating in the assassination attempt that almost killed him. Canudos is defended by many and hated by many. Three consecutive defeats revolted many people, making the president’s life even more difficult”, says the historian.

The museum, which is 65 years old, has undergone several renovations throughout its history to preserve the architecture of the big house. It can be visited free of charge from Tuesday to Friday, from 7 AM to 7 PM, and on Saturdays and holidays, from 10 AM to 2 PM.

“The house preserves the cultural memory of a people, and our function is to disseminate and educate, through the permanent exhibition, in works and documents, all the cultural wealth of Piracicaba and Prudente,” says Erica Fernanda Frasson, director of the museum.

LAST HOME

Prudente died in Piracicaba on December 3, 1902, a victim of tuberculosis. His grave, also in Piracicaba, can be visited at the Cemitério da Saudade (Nostalgia Cemetery), from Monday to Friday, from 7 AM to 6 PM.

The cemetery is located at 2201 Piracicamirim Avenue.

The monument consists of a statue of the president, with columns and granite steps. The inscription in bronze letters reads Prudente José de Morais Barros, born in Itú on October 4, 1841; died in Piracicaba on December 3, 1902.

With information from G1