Background of the Independence , c. 1820s The year 1821 was decisive in Maria Leopoldina's life. Belonging to one of the most conservative and enduring families in Europe (the
House of Habsburg-Lorraine) she came from a careful education based on the molds of the absolutist monarchies of the time. In June 1821, a frightened Maria Leopoldina wrote to her father "My husband, God help us, loves the new ideas", suspicious of the new constitutional and liberal political values; she personally witnessed the events that took place in Europe years before, in which
Napoleon Bonaparte systematically altered the political power of the continent, having a certain influence on his way of seeing these new political concepts. The conservative and traditional education of which the Archduchess had been disciplined also adds to this aspect. Maria Leopoldina, previously lacking in affection and approval, quickly gives way to the adult woman who faces life without illusions. As the friction between Portugal and Brazil unfolded, she became increasingly involved in the turmoil of political events that preceded the Independence of Brazil. Her involvement with Brazilian politics would lead her to play a fundamental role in the later Independence, alongside
José Bonifácio de Andrada. In this phase, she distances herself from the conservative (
absolutist) ideas of the Vienna court and adopts a more liberal (
constitutional) discourse in favor of the Brazilian cause. As a result of the
Liberal Revolution that took place in Portugal in 1820, on 25 April 1821 the court was forced to return to Portugal. A squadron of eleven ships took King John VI, the court, the royal house and the royal treasury back to the continent, and only Dom Pedro remained in Brazil as regent of the country, with ample powers counterbalanced by a regency council. At first, the new Regent was incapable of dominating the chaos: the situation was dominated by the Portuguese troops, in anarchic conditions. The opposition between Portuguese and Brazilians became increasingly evident. It can be clearly seen in Maria Leopoldina's correspondence that she warmly espoused the cause of the Brazilian people and came to desire the country's Independence.
The conspirator of São Cristóvão Maria Leopoldina grew up fearing popular revolutions due to the example of her great-aunt
Marie Antoinette, the last
Queen of France, guillotined during the
French Revolution. However, the fear of revolutions that would diminish the powers of the monarchs by popular revolt as happened in France in 1789 and recently in Portugal in 1820 was not seen in Brazil: "As soon as the autonomist movement and then the independence movement won Dom Pedro and Dona Leopoldina as protagonists, the Brazilians saw them as allies for the first time, and not as tyrants who should be defeated to give up power". Prepared to maintain fidelity to the absolutist monarchy, Maria Leopoldina did not imagine that she would be Regent in the troubled moments that preceded the break with Portugal, nor that she would defend the
Independence of Brazil even before Dom Pedro, in a clear attitude contrary to the education she received. The Austrian Archduchess was always on the side of the Brazilian cause and, in several letters written to her friends in Europe, began to distinguish between Portuguese and Brazilians, making it clear what she thought about Portuguese domination over the colony. With the return of the court to Portugal and the appointment of Dom Pedro as Prince Regent of Brazil (25 April 1821), Maria Leopoldina conceived that staying in America was the solution for the defense of dynastic legitimacy against the liberal excesses that threatened the power of the Houses of
Habsburg and
Bragança in Brazil. Dom Pedro, by the other hand, without any political experience and overwhelmed by the current unstable situation, constantly asked his father to release him from the regency and allow him and his family to return to Portugal—in September 1821, six months after King John VI's departure, he wrote: "I beg Your Majesty most urgently to release me from this onerous task". That would be an ineffective measure of neutrality, since a month later the country would become independent. As a woman was not well regarded in the political environment, Maria Leopoldina acted by means of "specific advice and influencing others to her husband, [so] she was achieving her conquests". Dom Pedro, at first, avoided contact with the Brazilian idea of freedom, trying to maintain neutrality, aiming to avoid the probable punishment of losing his inheritance to the Portuguese throne if he disobeyed the courts. Maria Leopoldina realized that Portugal, dominated by the courts, was already lost and that Brazil still lay like a blank canvas, which could become a future power, much more relevant than the old metropolis: the court orders, if enforced, would eventually shatter Brazil into dozens of republics, as had happened with the Spanish colonies in South America. According to Ezekiel Ramirez, the signs of a nascent Brazilian unit as an independent nation in the southern provinces were visible, but the north supported the Lisbon Cortes and called for regional independence. If the Prince Regent had left the country at that moment, Brazil would be lost to Portugal because the courts of Lisbon repeated the same error that led the Spanish courts to lose the colonies, seeking to establish direct contacts with each province in particular. Maria Leopoldina's attitude, defending Brazilian interests, is eloquently stamped in the letter he wrote to Dom Pedro, on the occasion of Brazil's independence: In Rio de Janeiro, thousands of signatures collected required the regents to remain in Brazil. "
José Bonifácio de Andrada's courageous attitude toward Portuguese arrogance greatly encouraged the aspirations for unity that existed in the southern provinces, especially in São Paulo. A highly educated men led this movement." After the
Dia do Fico a new ministry was organized under the leadership of José Bonifácio, "a strictly monarchist", and the Prince-Regent soon won the trust of the people. On 15 February 1822 the Portuguese troops left Rio de Janeiro, and their departure represented the dissolution of the ties between Brazil and the metropolis. Dom Pedro was triumphantly received in
Minas Gerais.
Regency . Maria Leopoldina presides over the Council of Ministers as regent on 2 September 1822. The meeting resulted in the letter urging Prince Pedro to declare Brazil's independence.
José Bonifácio stands opposite the Princess Royal, gesturing while addressing her. (later Queen of Portugal as
Maria II) are seen in the box (upper left) during the coronation ceremony of Pedro I in the
Imperial Chapel, 1 December 1822. When her husband traveled to São Paulo in August 1822 to pacify politics (which culminated in the proclamation of Brazil's Independence in September), Maria Leopoldina was appointed as his official representative, that is, as Regent in his absence. Dom Pedro declared the
Independence of Brazil upon receiving the letter of his wife on 7 September 1822 at São Paulo. Maria Leopoldina had also sent papers received from
Lisbon, and comments from
Antônio Carlos Ribeiro de Andrada, deputy to the courts, for which the Prince Regent learned of criticism of him in the metropolis. The position of John VI and all his ministry, dominated by the courts, was difficult. While awaiting the return of her husband, Maria Leopoldina, the interim ruler of an already independent country, idealized the flag of Brazil, in which she mixed the green of the
House of Braganza and the golden yellow of the
House of Habsburg. Other authors say that
Jean-Baptiste Debret, the French artist who designed what he saw in Brazil in the 1820s, was the author of the national pavilion that replaced that of the old Portuguese court, symbol of the oppression of the old regime. Debret is the design of the beautiful imperial flag, in collaboration with José Bonifácio de Andrada, in which the green rectangle of the Braganza represented the forests and the yellow rhombus, color of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, represented the gold. After that, Maria Leopoldina committed herself deeply in the recognition of the autonomy of the new country by the European courts, writing letters to the father, the Emperor of Austria, and to her father-in-law, the King of Portugal. Maria Leopoldina became Brazil's first
Empress consort, being acclaimed as such on 1 December 1822, at the coronation ceremony and consecration of her husband as Dom
Pedro I, Constitutional Emperor and Perpetual Defender of Brazil. Due to Brazil's status as at the time the only monarchy in South America, Maria Leopoldina was the first Empress of the
New World.
Bahia's participation in the independence process First headquarters of the government, radiating center for metropolitan policies and strategic port,
Bahia only lost its privileged situation in Brazil with the discovery of gold in the Hereditary Captaincy of Espírito Santo, and the region where the deposits were discovered by
Bandeirantes was dismembered from the said captaincy and transformed in the province of
Minas Gerais (dismemberment that was repeated as new deposits were discovered, causing the Captaincy of Espírito Santo to narrow Minas Gerais, in an ill-fated containment barrier against gold smuggling) and the subsequent transfer of the capital to
Rio de Janeiro, in 1776.
Salvador did not want to welcome the passing court, as it did in 1808, but permanently. In the process of separating from Portugal, Bahia hosted antagonistic currents: the pro-independence interior and the capital loyal to the court of
Lisbon. After 7 September 1822, there was an armed struggle that gave victory to the imperial troops on 2 July 1823. Bahian women actively participated in the patriotic battle.
Maria Quitéria, enlisted clandestinely as a loyal soldier to the Brazilian cause, was described by
Maria Graham and decorated by the
Order of the Southern Cross by Emperor Pedro I. The oral tradition of
Itaparica Island also records the role of
Afro-Brazilian Maria Felipa de Oliveira, who would have led more than 40 black women and defending the Island. Already Sister
Joana Angélica, Abbess of the
Convent of Lapa, prevented with her own life the entry of Portuguese troops in the cloister. Women's political awareness is also highlighted in the "
Carta das senhoras baianas à sua alteza real dona Leopoldina", who congratulates the Princess-Regent for her part in the patriotic resolutions on behalf of her husband and the country. In the letter of 186 Bahian ladies, delivered by hand in August 1822, was express their gratitude for Maria Leopoldina's stay in Brazil. The Princess-Regent writes to her husband to express her views on the presence of women in politics, telling him that the attitude of those ladies "proves that women are more cheerful and are more adherent to the good cause". Despite not returning to host the government, Bahia played an important role in the regional political balance in favor of the
Brazilian Empire. In recognition of the support obtained in the Independence process, the Emperor and Empress visited Salvador between February and March 1826. ==Decline in health and death==