The Constitution of 1838

Authors

  • Júlio Rodrigues da Silva Universidade Nova de Lisboa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17811/hc.v0i13.344

Keywords:

constitution, liberalism, revolution, monarchy, senate, election

Abstract

The importance traditionally given to the Costa Cabral’s coup (27/01/1842) make the Constitution of 1838 an ephemeral phenomenon aimed form the outset to failure. The overvaluation of that event's founder of cabralismo reduced it to merely a transition between two strong times: the Revolution of September 1836 and the restoration of the 1826 Constitutional Charter on 10 February 1842. His apparent failure does not cancel its originality, nor does it imply deduct a weakness or inability to contribute to solving national problems. The fact that he sided with the "losers of history" does not prevent the constitutional text has its own story that can not be erased from collective memory without becoming intelligible understanding of the nineteenth century in Portugal.

 

Enviado el / Submission Date: 30/04/2012

Aceptado el / Acceptance Date: 10/05/2012

Author Biography

Júlio Rodrigues da Silva, Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Professor Associado do Departamento de Filosofia da FCSH /UNL. Livros As Cortes Constituintes de 1837-1838. Liberais em Confronto, Lisboa, I.N.I.C., 1992; Ideário Político de uma Elite de Estado. Corpo Diplomático (1777-1793), Lisboa, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian/Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, 2002; José Estêvão de Magalhães 1809-1862 - Biografia Parlamentar, Lisboa, Assembleia da República, 2009. 

Issue

Section

The Historical Constitutionalism of Portugal (1826-1976)