Prudente José de Morais e Barros

Prudente José de Morais e Barros studied at the Academy of Juridical and Social Sciences in São Paulo and graduated in 1863. He moved to Vila da Constituição (now Piracicaba), where he was elected municipal councilor and president of the Municipal Chamber (1865) from the Liberal Party. In 1867 he was elected a deputy from the Province of São Paulo to the national legislature of 1868-1869. Morais joined the Republican Party (Partido Republicano) in 1876 and was elected to the Provincial Assembly of 1878-1879, 1881-1883, 1883-1885 and 1888-1889. In 1885 he was also elected to the Chamber of Deputies. After the proclamation of republic (15 Nov 1889), Morais was a member of the Junta of Government of São Paulo (16 Nov 1889 - 12 Dec 1889) and later was appointed Governor of the State (14 Dec 1889 - 18 Oct 1890) by Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca. Chosen senator for São Paulo, Morais presided at the National Constituent Congress (21 Nov 1890 - 26 Feb 1891), unsuccessfully contesting the election of first President of the Republic (25 Feb 1891). Upon taking his seat in the Senate, Morais briefly served as vice president, acting as president (15 Jun 1891 - 23 Nov 1891). As a representative of the Federal Republican Party (Partido Republicano Federal), Morais won the first direct elections of President of the Republic in 1894. His installation as president marked the accession of rural aristocracy from São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro to political power in Brazil. The Morais administration defeated a federalist revolution in Rio Grande do Sul (1895) and granted an amnesty for those involved in uprisings against the government of Floriano Peixoto. In 1896 the state and federal governments cracked down on a religious movement in the state of Bahia starting the War of Canudos. Suffering from illness, Morais delegated his authority (10 Nov 1896) to vice president Manuel Vitorino Pereira, who did not act as a mere caretaker, but attempted to interfere in policy matters, forcing Morais to resume the office on 4 Mar 1897 to prevent negative effects of this substitution. Morais scarcely avoided a coup attempt and might have fallen a victim of assassination if war minister Carlos Machado Bittencourt had not stopped an assassin at the cost of his life (5 Nov 1897). With consent of the National Congress, the president declared a state of emergency. The government closed some newspapers and arrested several opposition deputies in violation of their status of immunity. Extraordinary powers enabled the president to maintain peace and order before his successor took office. Morais returned to Piracicaba and resumed his professional activities. In 1901 he ventured to organize an opposition bloc, São Paulo Republican Dissident Party (Partido Republicano Dissidente de São Paulo), which sought for changing the Constitution of 1891. [2] [3]