The Constituent Cortes of 1820, formal title The General and Extraordinary Cortes of the Portuguese Nation, also frequently known as the Sovereign Congress or the Cortes Constituintes Vintistas, was the first modern Portuguese parliament. Created after the

Liberal Revolution of 1820 The Liberal Revolution of 1820 ( pt, Revolução Liberal) was a Portuguese political revolution that erupted in 1820. It began with a military insurrection in the city of Porto, in northern Portugal, that quickly and peacefully spread to the rest ...

to prepare a constitution for Portugal and its overseas territories, it used a different system from the traditional General Cortes for choosing representatives, and the three traditional feudal estates (

Clergy Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

Nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

, and

Commoner A commoner, also known as the ''common man'', ''commoners'', the ''common people'' or the ''masses'', was in earlier use an ordinary person in a community or nation who did not have any significant social status, especially a member of neither ...

s) no longer sat separately. The Cortes sat between January 24, 1821 and November 4, 1822 at the Palácio das Necessidades in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. The work of the Constitutional Cortes culminated in the approval of the

Portuguese Constitution of 1822 The Portuguese Constitution of 1822 (formally the Political Constitution of the Portuguese Monarchy) ( pt, Constituição Política da Monarquia Portuguesa) approved on 23 September 1822 was the first Portuguese constitution, marking an attempt to ...

Elections

The government installed after the Oporto Revolution, known as the Provisional Junta of the Supreme Government of the Kingdom, decided to convene the Cortes and on September 1, 1820 set up a preparatory commission. On November 22, the Commission published instructions for the election of representatives to the Cortes, which were held in December 1820. The original instructions only provided for representatives from Portugal, ignoring Brazil and provoking great discontent. The instructions were then revised and re-issued in November, establishing the proportional representation that included in the overseas domains and abandoning the traditional division into three orders. The electoral method chosen by the Commission was closely modelled on the electoral system Spain under the

Spanish Constitution of 1812 The Political Constitution of the Spanish Monarchy ( es, link=no, Constitución Política de la Monarquía Española), also known as the Constitution of Cádiz ( es, link=no, Constitución de Cádiz) and as ''La Pepa'', was the first Constituti ...

. It involved a complex process of

indirect suffrage An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...

through the formation of parish, county, and provincial electoral committees. Male citizens over the age of 25 (in some cases over 21 years of age) with a job, a trade or useful occupation, elected an electoral college who, in turn, chose county voters. These then met in the provincial capitals and elected the representatives to the Cortes, with one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants. Representatives were required to be at least 25 years of age. Despite the complexity of the process and inexperience of those operating it, the election was completed on Christmas Day 1820, with deputies elected in most provinces of Portugal. The remainder were elected in the following months. These electoral criteria had the effect, in Brazil, of transforming the traditional captaincies into provinces. The first Brazilian province to declare its adherence to the Cortes was

Pará Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...

on 1 January 1821, followed on February 10 by

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (sta ...

Piauí Piaui (, ) is one of the states of Brazil, located in the country's Northeast Region. The state has 1.6% of the Brazilian population and produces 0.7% of the Brazilian GDP. Piaui has the shortest coastline of any coastal Brazilian state at 66&n ...

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

and

Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the 19 ...

. Other parts of Brazil followed in due course. Representatives from Sao Paulo, Paraíba, Pará, Espírito Santo, Goiás and Ceará only joined the Cortes in 1822. Representatives from Minas Gerais, Rio Grande do Norte, CIsplatina and Rio Grande do Sul did not take their seats in the Cortes, remaining in Brazil in demonstration of support to the regent Don Pedro. in total 97 representatives and alternates were elected from Brazil.SILVA NETO, Casimiro Pedro da
"A construção da democracia : síntese histórica dos grandes momentos da Câmara dos Deputados, das assembléias nacionais constituintes e do Congresso Nacional"
. Brasília : Câmara dos Deputados, Coordenação de Publicações, 2003, p.47. Accessed 20 April 2019.

Drafting a constitution

On 9 March, less than three months after its opening meeting, the Cortes approved the "Bases of the Constitution", a document later sworn to by King

John VI of Portugal , house = Braganza , father = Peter III of Portugal , mother = Maria I of Portugal , birth_date = , birth_place = Queluz Palace, Queluz, Portugal , death_date = , death_place = Bemposta Palace, Lisbon, Portugal , ...

on July 4 immediately after his return from exile in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Based on this document the Cortes then drafted and approved the first Portuguese Constitution, which was approved on September 30, 1822. The Cortes met for the last time on November 4, 1822. Although the constitution of 1822 only remained in effect for a short time, it served as an inspiration for Portuguese liberalism, and even influenced the first republican constitution of Portugal, approved almost a century later. On November 4, 1822, the work of the General and Extraordinary Cortes of the Portuguese Nation ended, and it became an ordinary assembly on November 15, 1822.

Divergence between Portugal and Brazil

In August 1821 the Cortes discussing a series of administrative measures to reorganize institutional power. Among other reforms the Cortes suppressed Brazil’s existing provincial governments and courts, and demanded the immediate return of the Prince Regent Dom Pedro to Lisbon. These discussions began before the Brazilian representatives arrived on August 29 and marked the beginning of a policy of confrontation between Lisbon and the regency of Dom Pedro. In addition trade relations between Brazil and Portugal became a point of divergence between deputies of the two kingdoms. To reconcile the different positions, in March 1822, a special commission of six Brazilian and six Portuguese representatives was established. The Brazilian representatives wanted a

dual monarchy Dual monarchy occurs when two separate kingdoms are ruled by the same monarch, follow the same foreign policy, exist in a customs union with each other, and have a combined military but are otherwise self-governing. The term is typically used ...

with Portugal and Brazil as federated elements within a single empire, while the Portuguese representatives wanted a

unitary state A unitary state is a sovereign state governed as a single entity in which the central government is the supreme authority. The central government may create (or abolish) administrative divisions (sub-national units). Such units exercise only th ...

. The polarization between the two increased tension in the provinces, especially from January 1822 when Dom Pedro decided to stay in Brazil. On 4 May a decree of Dom Pedro established that no decision of the Cortes could be applied in Brazil without his assent. On September 23 and 24, the Political Constitution of the Portuguese Monarchy was signed by 39 of the 46 Brazilian deputies in office.

Representatives from Portugal in the Cortes

The following representatives took part in the debates:

Kingdom of the Algarve The Kingdom of the Algarve (Portuguese: ''Reino do Algarve'', from the Arabic ''Gharb al-Andalus'' ), after 1471 Kingdom of the Algarves (Portuguese: ''Reino dos Algarves''), was a nominal kingdom within the Kingdom of Portugal, located in the sou ...

*Manoel José Placido da Sylva Negrão. *José Vaz Velho. *Jeronymo José Carneiro.

Minho Province Minho () was a former province in Portugal, established in 1936 and dissolved in 1976. It consisted of 23 municipalities, with its capital in the city of Braga. Today, the area would include the districts of Braga and Viana do Castelo. Minho has ...

*Francisco Wanzeller *Antonio Pereira *José Maria Xavier de Araujo *Francisco Xavier Calheiros *João de Sousa Pinto de Magalhães *José Ferreira Borges *Rodrigo Ribeiro Telles da Sylva *João Baptista Felgueiras *Basilio Alberto de Sousa *Archbishop da Bahia *João Pereira da Sylva *José Joaquim Rodrigues de Bastos *Joaquim José dos Santos Pinheira *Antonio Ribeiro da Costa *Manoel Martins Couto

Trás-os-Montes Province Trás-os-Montes Province () is one of the medieval provinces of Portugal. The northern part is covered by Terras de Trás-os-Montes and Alto Tâmega, the southern by Douro Subregion. See also * Trás-os-Montes (region) * Trás-os-Montes e Alto ...

*Bernardo Corrêa de Castro e Sepulveda *Manoel Gonçalves de Miranda *Antonio Lobo de Barbosa Teixeira Ferreira Girão

Beira Province Beira () was one of the six traditional provinces or ''comarcas'' of Portugal. The territorial extension is different from that of the area called ''the Beiras'', which refers to three provinces of 1936, Beira Alta, Beira Baixa and Beira Lit ...

*José Maria de Sousa e Almeida *José de Gouvêa Osorio *Antonio Pinheiro d'Azevedo e Sylva *Baron de Molellos *José Pedro da Costa Ribeiro Teixeira *José de Mello de Castro e Abreu *Bishop de Lamego *João de Figueiredo *José Joaquim de Faria *José Ribeiro Saraiva *Antonio José Ferreira de Sousa *Pedro José Lopes d'Almeida *Manoel Fernandes Thomaz *José Joaquim Ferreira de Moura *Antonio Maria Osorio Cabral *Thomé Rodrigues Sobral *Manoel de Serpa Machado

Alentejo Province Alentejo Province () is one of the six historical provinces of Portugal. The province took its name from the Portuguese ''além Tejo'', meaning "Beyond the (River) Tagus". It covers the historical and cultural region Alentejo. It was created in ...

*Carlos Honorio de Gouvêa Durão *João Vicente da Sylva *Joaquim Annes de Carvalho *João Rodrigues de Brito *José Victorino Barreto Feyo *Ignacio da Costa Brandão *José Antonio da Rosa

Estremadura Province

*Bento Pereira do Carmo *Francisco de Lemos Bittencourt *Agostinho José Freire *Luiz Antonio Rebello da Sylva *Alvaro Xavier da Fonseca Coutinho e Povoas *Luiz Monteiro *João Alexandrino de Sousa Queiroga *Felix Avelar Brotero *Hermano José Braancamp do Sobral *Francisco Antonio dos Santos *Henrique Xavier Baeta *José Ferrão de Mendonça e Sousa *João Maria Soares Castello Branco *Francisco de Paula Travassos *Manoel Agostinho Madeira Torres *Manoel Antonio de Carvalho *Francisco Xavier Monteiro *Manoel Borges Carneiro *José Carlos Coelho Carneiro Pacheco

Representatives from Brazil in the Cortes

(Based on the "Lista Nominal dos Deputados do Brasil à Assembleia Constituinte de Lisboa de 1821 a 1823").

Alagoas Province

*Manuel Marques GrangeiroManuel Emílio Gomes de Carvalho: Os Deputados Brasileiros nas Cortes de 1821. Brasília: Senado Federal, 1979 *Francisco de Assis Barbosa *Francisco Manuel Martins Ramos

Amazonas Province

*João Lopes da Cunha

Bahia Province

Cipriano Barata Cipriano Barata, also known as Cipriano José Barata de Almeida (26 September 1762 – 7 June 1838) was a Brazilian physician and politician who was in favor of Brazilian independence. He was a founding member of a Masonic Lodge, "The Knights of ...

*Alexandre Gomes de Argolo Ferrão *Marcos Antônio de Sousa *Pedro Rodrigues Bandeira *José Lino dos Santos Coutinho *Domingos Borges de Barros *Luís Paulino de Oliveira Pinto da França *Francisco Agostinho Gomes *Luís José de Barros Leite

Ceará Province

*Antônio José Moreira *Manuel do Nascimento Castro e Silva *

José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar José Martiniano Pereira de Alencar (October 16, 1794 – March 15, 1860) was a Brazilian politician, journalist and priest, father of famous Brazilian novelist José de Alencar and diplomat Leonel Martiniano de Alencar, Baron of Alencar, Leonel ...

*Pedro José da Costa Barros

Espírito Santo Province

*João Fortunato Ramos dos Santos

Goiás Province

*Joaquim Teotônio Segurado

Maranhão Province

*Joaquim Vieira Belford *José João Beckman e Caldas

Minas Gerais Province

*Belchior Pinheiro de Oliveira *Manuel Ferreira da Câmara Bittencourt Aguiar e Sá *José Teixeira da Fonseca Vasconcelos *Manuel Rodrigues da Costa *Estêvão Ribeiro de Resende *José Alves do Couto Saraiva *Jacinto Furtado de Mendonça *João Severiano Maciel da Costa *Lucas Antônio Monteiro de Barros *José de Resende Costa (son) *Teotônio Alves de Oliveira Maciel *Antônio Teixeira da Costa *José de Oliveira Pinto Botelho e Mosqueira *Manuel Veloso Soares *João Gomes da Silveira Mendonça *José Joaquim da Rocha *Francisco Pereira de Santa Apolônia *João Evangelista de Faria Lobato *José Antônio da Silva Maia *Lúcio Soares Teixeira de Gouveia *Antônio da Rocha Froes *

Cândido José de Araújo Viana Cândido is a Portuguese masculine given name, equivalent of Spanish Cándido * Cândido de Oliveira (1896–1958), Portuguese football player * Cândido Firmino de Mello-Leitão (1886-1948), Brazilian zoologist * Cândido José de Araújo Viana ...

*Antônio Gonçalves Gomide *Domingos Alves de Oliveira Maciel *José Custódio Dias *João Gomes da Silveira Mendonça *Francisco de Paula Pereira Duarte *José Cesário de Miranda Ribeiro *José Elói Ottoni

Pará Province

*Romualdo de Sousa Coelho *Romualdo Antônio de Seixas *Francisco de Sousa Moreira

Paraíba Province Paraíba ( Tupi: ''pa'ra a'íba''; ) is a state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba ...

*Francisco Xavier Monteiro de França *José da Costa Cirne

Pernambuco Province

*Domingos Malaquias de Aguiar Pires Ferreira *Gervásio Pires Ferreira *Inácio Pinto de Almeida Castro *Félix José Tavares de Lira *Manuel Zeferino dos Santos *

Pedro de Araújo Lima Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

*João Ferreira da Silva *Francisco Muniz Tavares *Antônio de Pádua Vieira Cavalcanti (alternate) *Francisco Xavier de Lossio e Seiblitz (alternate) *Manuel Félix de Veras

Piauí Province

*Domingos da Conceição *Manuel de Sousa Borges Leal

Rio de Janeiro Province

*Custódio Gonçalves Ledo *João Soares de Lemos Brandão *Francisco Lemos de Faria Pereira Coutinho *José Joaquim da Cunha Azeredo Coutinho *Luis Martins Bastos *

Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo (11 December 1781 – 9 May 1847) was a Brazilian journalist and politician. He was active in the freemasonry movement in Brazil. He was one of the leaders of the more liberal and democrat faction during the confused period ...

*Francisco Vilela Barbosa *Luis Nicolau Fagundes Varela

Rio Grande do Sul Province

*João de Santa Bárbara *José Martins Zimblão (alternate) *José Saturnino da Costa Pereira

Santa Catarina Province Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnight ...

*Lourenço Rodrigues de Andrade *José da Silva Mafra (alternate)

São Paulo Province São Paulo Province was one of the provinces of Brazil The provinces of Brazil were the primary subdivisions of the country during the period of the Empire of Brazil (1822 - 1889). On February 28, 1821, the provinces were established in the Kin ...

Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada Machado e Silva (1 November 1773 – 5 December 1845) was a Brazilian judge (''juiz de fora''), appellate judge (''desembargador'') and politician. At the time of Brazilian Independence, he often used the pseud ...

(did not sign or swear an oath to the 1822 constitution) *Nicolau Pereira de Campos Vergueiro (did not sign or swear an oath to the 1822 constitution) *José Ricardo da Costa Aguiar de Andrada (did not sign or swear an oath to the 1822 constitution) * Diogo Antônio Feijó (did not sign or swear an oath to the 1822 constitution) *José Feliciano Fernandes Pinheiro (signed and swore an oath to the 1822 constitution) *Antônio Manuel da Silva Bueno (alternate; did not sign or swear an oath to the 1822 constitution) *Antônio Pais de Barros (did not take his seat) *

Francisco de Paula Sousa e Melo Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''. Nicknames In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...

(did not attend)

Brazilian representatives who approved the constitution

On 23 September 1822 the constitution was approved. Among those voting in favour were 36 Brazilian representatives, including 25 from the northeast. This did not include the Brazilians who had abandoned the Cortes, like

and Antônio Carlos de Andrada e Silva. *Alexandre Gomes de Argolo Ferrão, Bahia *Antônio José Moreira, Ceará *Domingos Borges de Barros, Bahia *Custódio Gonçalves Ledo, Rio de Janeiro *Domingos da Conceição, Piauí *Domingos Malaquias de Aguiar Pires Ferreira, Pernambuco *Félix José Tavares de Lira, Pernambuco *Francisco de Assis Barbosa, Alagoas *Francisco Manuel Martins Ramos, Alagoas *Francisco Moniz Tavares, Pernambuco *Francisco de Sousa Moreira, Pará *Francisco Vilela Barbosa, Rio de Janeiro *Francisco Xavier Monteiro de França, Paraíba *Inácio Pinto de Almeida Castro, Pernambuco *João Ferreira da Silva, Pernambuco *João Lopes da Cunha, Rio Negro (Amazonas) *João Soares de Lemos Brandão, Rio de Janeiro *Joaquim Teotônio Segurado, Goiás *José da Costa Cirne, Paraíba *José João Beckman e Caldas, Maranhão *José Lino dos Santos Coutinho, Bahia *

, Ceará *José Feliciano Fernandes Pinheiro, São Paulo *Lourenço Rodrigues de Andrade, Santa Catarina *Luis Martins Bastos, Rio de Janeiro *Luiz Nicolau Fagundes Varella, Rio de Janeiro *Manuel Filippe Gonçalves, Ceará *Manuel Felix de Veras, Pernambuco *Manuel Marques Grangeiro, Alagoas *Manuel do Nascimento Castro e Silva,Ceará *Manuel Zeferino dos Santos, Pernambuco *Marcos Antônio de Sousa, Bahia *Miguel Sousa Borges Leal, Piauí *

, Pernambuco *Pedro Rodrigues Bandeira, Bahia *Romualdo de Sousa Coelho, (Bishop) Pará

References

{{reflist 1820 establishments in Portugal 1822 disestablishments in Portugal Political history of Portugal Political history of Brazil Constituent assemblies History of Lisbon