José Melo de Carvalho Muniz Freire (13 July 1861 – 3 April 1918) was a Brazilian politician. He was the 10th president (governor) of the state of

Espirito Santo ''Espirito'' (Brazilian for "Spirit") is the second album by Lawson Rollins. Rollins composed all of the music and co-produced the album with Persian-American musician and producer Shahin Shahida (of Shahin & Sepehr) and multi-platinum producer Do ...

, from 1892 to 1896, and again from 1900 to 1904. Freire was born in Vitória. He developed the railroads of the state, building the line from

Vila Velha Vila Velha (; Portuguese for "Old Village") is a coastal city in Espírito Santo, Brazil. It lies across from Vitória, the state capital. Its population was 501,325 (2020) and its area is 210.23 km². Location Vila Velha forms part of th ...

to Viana (which was later expanded to Cachoeiro de Itapemirin, from where it joined to the railroad to

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

), and greatly promoted European immigration to the State. Espírito Santo got 15,586 immigrants from Germany, Italy and the Balkans in the time of his term as governor. He was also a Senator for Espírito Santo in the

Brazilian Senate The Federal Senate ( pt, Senado Federal) is the upper house of the National Congress of Brazil. When created under the Imperial Constitution in 1824, it was based on the House of Lords of the British Parliament, but since the Proclamation ...

(from 1904 to 1905 and from 1905 to 1914), and was the first Brazilian politician to defend the adoption of the secret vote (in Brazil, by that time, the vote was open; voter had to declare his vote for the electoral agent to take note of it). The secret vote was only to be adopted in Brazil after 1930. The creation of the Electoral Court System and the first Election Code of Brazil goes back to 1932.

References

1861 births 1918 deaths Governors of Espírito Santo Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) {{Brazil-politician-stub