Brazil gained independence in September of 1822. Brazil changed after independence by
having a constitution created in 1824. After independence Brazil changed into a monarchy
“that drew its legitimacy from royal bloodlines and ultimately the idea that the legitimacy
of kings and queens derived from divine consent,” (Beattie xiii).
Brazil stayed the same in terms of an economy, religion, and hierarchy. Economy was still
dependent on African slavery for the development of its society. The cultivation of goods
such as sugarcane, coffee, and cotton were “highly specialized capital and labor-intensive
enterprises.” The religion of Roman Catholicism also continued to be the official religion
of Brazil after independence. A racial hierarchy with those with traces of African lineage
on the bottom and “whiteness” at the top of the hierarchy also continued. “Most came to
associate ‘whiteness’ with prestige and influence,” (Beattie 3). Brazil’s population majority
of the “free poor” of a mixed race continued to depend on and be loyal to powerful patrons
after independence.
The lives of Daniel Gomes de Freitas, whose racial background is not clear, and Agostinho
Jose Pereira, a black man, illustrate the tensions that surfaced or continued within Brazilian
society after Independence. Freitas was an army cadet turned lieutenant after independence
whose life was surrounded by the profound existence of slavery. Freitas witnessed
economic and political changes such as: slaves fleeing to enlist, who were able to be freed