Setembrismo
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| Setembrismo | |
|---|---|
| Name | Setembrismo |
| Founded | 1836 |
| Dissolved | 1837 |
| Country | Portugal |
| Leaders | Manuel da Silva Passos, Rodrigo Pinto Pizarro |
| Ideology | Liberalism, Constitutionalism, Progressivism |
| Predecessor | Cartismo |
| Successor | Regeneração (Portugal) |
Setembrismo was a short-lived political current in Portugal that emerged in the aftermath of the July Revolution of 1836 and the insurrection of September of that year. It represented a radicalizing strand of Portuguese liberal politics, allied with popular uprisings, military officers, and some parliamentary deputies, and it sought to replace the Constitutional Charter of 1826 with a more democratic constitution modeled on the Constitution of 1822. Setembrismo's influence peaked during the insurrectionary months of late 1836 and 1837 and it played a pivotal role in the 1836-1837 political reconfiguration that preceded the later Regeneration era.
Origins and Historical Context
Setembrismo arose after the revolt of Setúbal and the broader reaction to the return of the Constitutional Charter of 1826 under Maria II and her advisor Miguelist tensions. The movement drew on the political energy unleashed by the July Revolution in France, echoes from the Liberal Wars between Pedro IV and Miguel I, and pressure from civic bodies such as the Junta of Porto and municipal militias in Lisbon. Influences included intellectual currents associated with the Porto School and activists linked to the Sociedade Patriótica and students from the University of Coimbra. The immediate trigger was the military uprising of September 1836 that forced the fall of the government of Venceslau de Lima and the rollback of policies pursued by ministers like Rodrigo Pinto Pizarro.
Political Ideology and Goals
Setembrismo combined demands from proponents of the 1822 constitution with positions advanced by deputies like Manuel da Silva Passos and activists influenced by figures such as Francisco Guedes de Azevedo and José da Silva Carvalho. The program emphasized restoration of the 1822 constitution, expansion of political participation through broader suffrage as debated in the Cortes, and reforms of municipal institutions in Lisbon and Porto. It opposed the moderate constitutionalism associated with Cartismo leaders like Reinaldo Braga and ministers connected to the House of Braganza. Setembrismo favored legal reforms inspired by codes debated in the Câmara dos Deputados and municipal councils, and it sought to curtail the influence of oligarchs linked to estates such as Alentejo landholders and urban patricians from Oporto.
Key Figures and Leadership
Prominent personalities included parliamentary leaders and pamphleteers such as Manuel da Silva Passos, whose speeches in the Cortes articulated Setembrismo's program, and military officers who joined the September uprising, among them junior officers from regiments stationed near Lisbon and Coimbra. Other notable actors were journalists and editors at newspapers like the Diário do Governo and reformist periodicals edited by supporters of António Carlos da Silva and associates of Álvaro Bulhão Pato. Key political ministers drawn into the period's turmoil included Rodrigo Pinto Pizarro and other royal advisors who attempted compromises with insurgent deputies. Activists from municipal juntas in Braga and Évora also provided organizational support.
Major Events and Actions
The September 1836 insurrection that installed a provisional government in Lisbon precipitated the dissolution of the ministry and the convocation of a constituent Cortes that revised the charter and reinstated a constitution closer to 1822. Setembrismo backed popular mobilizations, street demonstrations, and municipal juntas that produced political pressure on the royal palace of Bemposta and the throne of Maria II. Legislative contests in the Câmara dos Deputados and episodes of armed confrontations in districts such as Almada and Vila Nova de Gaia marked the movement's active phase. Governmental decrees issued in the months following September reflected concessions to Setembrismo demands, but cantonalist tendencies and factional disputes among leaders often produced instability.
Social and Economic Policies
Setembrismo's social platform targeted the privileges of large landowners in regions like Alentejo and the commercial monopolies of elites in Porto, proposing land registry reforms and measures favorable to smallholders and urban artisans concentrated in Lisbon neighborhoods. Economic measures debated in the Cortes included tax reforms, municipal finance restructuring affecting treasuries in Braga and Coimbra, and regulatory changes impacting trade through the port of Lisbon and the port of Leixões. The movement favored public works proposals akin to later projects in the Regeneração period, and it attracted support from guilds, sailors from the Portuguese Navy and small-scale merchants.
Opposition and Decline
Setembrismo faced strong resistance from Cartista elites, royalist ministers, landholding aristocrats connected to estates in Alentejo and Beira, and conservative elements in the Cortes. Figures such as António José Severim de Noronha, 1st Duke of Terceira and other moderates organized counter-movements. International pressures, fiscal crises, and splits within the movement—between purist advocates of the 1822 constitution and pragmatic reformers—eroded cohesion. Military defeats in provincial uprisings and the political consolidation by moderate cabinets led to Setembrismo's marginalization by 1837, paving the way for the later stabilization under leaders associated with the Regeneration.
Legacy and Historical Assessment
Historians link Setembrismo to the broader 19th-century Portuguese process of constitutional consolidation studied alongside the Liberal Wars and the constitutional experiments of 1822 and 1826. Its influence is noted in municipal reforms, the reconfiguration of party lines later embodied by figures such as Fontes Pereira de Melo and António de Serpa Pimentel, and in the cultural memory preserved in periodicals archived in Lisbon libraries. Scholarly assessments range from seeing Setembrismo as a momentary insurgent phase to recognizing it as a catalyst for deeper parliamentary and administrative transformations that shaped mid-century Portuguese politics.