Manuel Alves Branco, 2nd Viscount of Caravelas

His Excellency
The Viscount of Caravelas
Portrait by José Correia de Lima, unknown date
Prime Minister of Brazil
In office
22 May 1847 – 8 March 1848
MonarchPedro II
Preceded byOffice created
Succeeded byViscount of Macaé
Minister of Justice
In office
16 January 1835 – 14 October 1835
Preceded byAureliano Coutinho
Succeeded byManuel Antônio Galvão
In office
2 February 1844 – 23 May 1844
Preceded byHonório Hermeto Carneiro
Succeeded byAntonio Limpo de Abreu
Personal details
Born(1797-06-07)7 June 1797
Maragogipe, Bahia, State of Brazil
Died13 July 1855(1855-07-13) (aged 58)
Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Political partyLiberal Party
OccupationPolitician
Signature

Manuel Alves Branco (Brazilian Portuguese: [manuˈɛw ˈawviz ˈbɾɐ̃ku]), the 2nd Viscount of Caravelas (7 June 1797 – 13 July 1855) was a Brazilian politician, economist, lawyer and magistrate during the Empire of Brazil (1822–1889). He held the positions of general deputy, minister of justice, minister of finance, senator and also the first de jure prime-minister of Brazil.[1]

As minister of finance, Alves Branco introduced a new customs tariff in 1844 with the primary aim of increasing Brazil's revenue and reducing the fiscal deficit in the country's trade balance. The tariff, which became known as Alves Branco Tariff, led to a relative surge in industrialization in Brazil.[1]

Biography

During his political career he was a member of the Chamber of Deputies, Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, Prime Minister and Senator of the Empire of Brazil. He was four times Minister of Finance - from May 16 to September 19, 1837; from September 1, 1839, to May 18, 1840; from February 2, 1844, to May 2, 1846, and from 22 May to 20 October 1847, resuming the post at November 18, 1847 and holding it until March 8, 1848. He held the position of prime minister from 22 August 1847 to 8 March 1848.

Political career

Alves Branco Tariff

In 1810, in the context of the French invasion of Portugal during the Napoleonic Wars, prince regent John of Braganza signed the treaties of Alliance and Friendship and Commerce and Navigation with the United Kingdom as compensation for the British support and protection in the transfer of the Portuguese court to Brazil.[2] Years earlier, with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family in Brazil, prince regent John had signed a decree on 28 January 1808 that opened Brazil's ports to foreign trade. While initially not discriminating the origin of products in relation to the application of tariffs, a new decree was issued on 11 June 1808 that established a preferential tax of 16% to Portuguese goods, which led the United Kingdom to protest. Thus, the British government, taking advantage of its influence over Portugal, made it sign the trade treaty on 19 February 1810,[3] which granted a series of privileges to British subjects residing in Brazil and also to British goods imported into the country.[2]

As part of the treaty, British products would be subject to a 15% customs tariff, while Portuguese ones would pay 16% and the rest of the world 24%. The preferential tariff to British goods was met with strong opposition in Brazil from local merchants to the country's elite. In need of international recognition following its war of independence, and despite internal opposition, Brazil renewed the treaty for 15 years in 1827 as compensation for British support in the country's recognition by Portugal, which came with the 1825 Treaty of Rio de Janeiro.[2]

As the end of the treaty approached, the debate between defenders of the agricultural sector and industrialists resurfaced, as the latter saw the opportunity to use the customs duties as a mechanism to promote industrialization. The end of the treaty, initially expected to 1842 and later postponed to 1844, coincided with Brazil's internal process of strengthening of the central power following the end of the regency period with the declaration of age of Pedro II. With the end of the regency period, plagued by rebellions and political instability, Brazil could turn its attention to its foreign policy and seek to break free from British influence.[4]

In this context, the so-called Alves Branco Tariff was introduced with Decree No. 376 of 12 August 1844,[5] which established a 30% tariff on a total of 2,243 imported goods, while the remaining ones would be subject to tariffs ranging from 2 to 60%.[6] In his statement of reasons regarding the tariff, Alves Branco explained that:[7]

Since the first objective of the tariff is to fill the deficit, in which the country has been working for years, it was my duty to ensure that the new rate of duties, which comprised the largest sum of values, was such that it would probably fill it; and because the income [generated] by the 20 percent which were generally paid for foreign goods brought to the country amounted to 12 to 13 thousand contos, it was obvious that, [in order] to achieve that aim, it would be necessary to increase it by another 10 percent; and this is the reason why foreign imports are [now] generally taxed at 30 percent.

In André Villela's evaluation, the introduction of the tariff was "the first clearest manifestation of an official desire to grant some protection to domestic manufacturing activity [in Brazil], at that time still restricted to sugar mills, food processing, brickworks, small foundries and the homemade cloth industry".[8] The subsequent academic debate about the tariff centered on its "true intention": on one side were those who considered its introduction only as a way of alleviating the precarious situation of revenue for the public treasury and on the other those who saw it as intended to protect the country's industry.[9]

The Meuron Factory in Andaraí, Rio de Janeiro, c. 1840s

André Villela stated that the motives behind the introduction of the Alves Branco Tariff were, above all, the result of pragmatism, since, given the "chronic deficit situation of the imperial treasury" at the time and the country's incipient industry, it was "inevitable that [...] the primary function of the tariff policy had been to maximize tax revenue".[10] Pedro Cezar Dutra Fonseca argued that, despite being "doubtful that the tariff resulted in a protectionist effect, since the 30% tax rate applied to most goods was considered low by Alves Branco himself", it is undeniable that the debate regarding the tax policy was fueled by nationalism, with Alves Branco stating that the General Assembly wanted "not only to fill the state's deficit, but also protect national capital already employed within the country in some manufacturing industry, and encourage others to seek the same fate".[11]

While the tariff's main goal was to solve the fiscal deficit, Villela concluded that "'fiscal' and 'protectionist' objectives are not mutually exclusive"[12] and that, considering the heavier tariffs imposed on imported goods that had a local equivalent, namely textiles and ironworks, the policymakers at the time also valued protectionism.[13] The adoption of the tariff thus led to industrial growth in these areas, which expanded in Minas Gerais, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro, the latter of which saw the construction of steamships with the Baron of Mauá's shipyard.[14] According to Luiz Carlos Soares, the adoption of the Alves Branco Tariff was one of the factors that stimulated Brazilian industry in the 1840s, when "a surge of industrial growth began in the city of Rio de Janeiro and in other locations across the country, [...] in addition to the expansion of markets brought about by the coffee boom and the sudden population growth in the middle of the century".[15]

Prime Minister of Brazil

The office of prime minister of Brazil, officialy called "president of the council of ministers", was created by Decree No. 523 of 20 July 1847. The creation of the office changed one of the prerrogatives of the moderating power, exercised by the emperor of Brazil: that of freely appointing and removing the ministers of state. After the decree, it was up to the prime minister, once appointed by the emperor, to nomitate the ministers with the monarch's consent.[16][17] Thus, Manuel Alves Branco became the first de jure prime minister of Brazil on 22 May 1847.[18]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Arquivo Nacional Mapa 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Barbosa 2014, p. 61.
  3. ^ Villela 2005, p. 37.
  4. ^ Barbosa 2014, pp. 61–62.
  5. ^ Barbosa 2014, p. 68.
  6. ^ Villela 2005, pp. 38–39.
  7. ^ Villela 2005, p. 38.
  8. ^ Villela 2005, p. 39.
  9. ^ Villela 2005, p. 46.
  10. ^ Villela 2005, pp. 46–47.
  11. ^ Fonseca 2004, p. 230.
  12. ^ Villela 2005, p. 47.
  13. ^ Villela 2005, p. 60.
  14. ^ Croce 2015, pp. 9–10.
  15. ^ Santos 2018, p. 173.
  16. ^ Barbosa 2007, p. 53.
  17. ^ Almeida 2014.
  18. ^ Barbosa 2007, p. 55.

Bibliography