“The Tyrant Is Dead!” The Revolt of the Periquitos in Bahia, 1824

Abstract

This article analyzes politics in the Brazilian province of Bahia from mid-1823 when Portuguese troops were expelled from the capital of Salvador to early 1825. During this time many opposed the province's adhesion to the increasingly authoritarian monarchy of Pedro I established in Rio de Janeiro in 1822. It focuses on the October--November 1824 rebellion of the Periquitos battalion and the other manifestations of social and political unrest of these years. These radical liberal movements expressed many Bahians' mistrust of the monarch, particularly after he closed the constituent assembly in November 1823 and imposed a constitution in March 1824. They also evinced strong sympathy with the Confederação do Equador rebellion centered in Pernambuco, although the Bahian movements failed to establish a formal connection with that province's resistance to the emperor. Bahia's radical liberals drew strong support from the nonwhite lower classes in the city of Salvador and from the army rank and file. These popular movements reveal the widespread appeal of the radical liberal program. The repression that followed these movements indicates that the Bahian planter class accepted the centralized monarchy as a guarantor of social order and abandoned its desire for greater control over local affairs.