João Pinheiro Chagas

João Pinheiro Chagas

João Pinheiro Chagas (born September 1, 1863 in Rio de Janeiro , † May 28, 1925 in Estoril ) was a Portuguese journalist, diplomat and politician of the Portuguese Republican Party from the final phase of the Portuguese monarchy and the first republic . He was Portuguese Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Portugal for two months in 1911 .

Life

Chagas was as a child of Portuguese parents in the Brazilian born in Rio de Janeiro. Shortly after his birth, his family returned to Portugal.

Since 1887 a dispute simmered between Portugal and Great Britain over contradicting colonial claims in southern Africa (see British-Portuguese colonial crisis ). At the height of the crisis in 1890, the Royal Portuguese Government had to forego all claims following a British ultimatum . The obvious weakness of Portugal and its government, and thus also of the Portuguese monarchy, made Chargas an ardent republican , he joined the republican party.

During the monarchy, Chargas mainly worked as a journalist, writing for the newspapers O Primeiro de Janeiro , Tempo , Correio da Manhã and O Dia , later he founded the newspaper República Portuguesa and was editor of the newspaper O País .

When the Republicans faced particularly severe persecution between 1906 and 1908, he was one of the fiercest opponents of the authoritarian government of João Franco . He was exiled to Angola , but was able to flee to Brazil.

After the abolition of the monarchy on October 5, 1910, he went to the embassy in Paris as an envoy . After the fall of the monarchy, a provisional government under Teófilo Braga had taken power in Portugal , with Braga performing both the functions of head of state and head of government. He organized elections for a constituent assembly, this drafted a republican constitution, which was passed in 1911. The constitution provided for a bicameral parliament and a parliamentary government as well as a president elected by parliament. With the adoption of the constitution, the term of office of the provisional government ended, the newly elected parliament elected Chagas prime minister, and on September 4, 1911, he became the first constitutional head of government of the new republic. The Chagas government lasted only two months, and he had to hand over the office to his successor on November 13 of the same year. On May 17, 1915, he was re-elected Prime Minister, but did not take up the post. Chagas then served in his country's diplomatic service until his retirement.

Individual evidence

1. ^ João Chagas, o jornalista panfletário . In: Público , August 28, 2010; Retrieved July 11, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
Teófilo Braga	Prime Minister of Portugal 1911	Augusto de Vasconcelos