The audience of the Teatro Constitucional Fluminense (now the Teatro João Caetano, at Praça Tiradentes) was watching a performance of the drama O estatutário on September 28, 1831, when a fight broke out outside. On one side was the Brazilian lieutenant Antônio Caetano; on the other, the Portuguese officer Paiva, of the Army General Staff. The theater was a meeting point for the "exaltado" liberals, and the conflict between Caetano and Paiva took on unexpected proportions.
Largo da Constituição, in 1834 by Hubert de La Michellerie. Fundação Biblioteca Nacional
Image description: The image is a black-and-white engraving. It shows a square with buildings in the background. On the left, there is a building with a sloped roof and several windows. In the center, a tower with a bell stands out. On the right, other buildings of different heights form the skyline. In the middle of the square, there is a structure that appears to be a monument or statue. The sky is clear and cloudless.Called in to restore order, the justice of the peace Saturnino Oliveira ordered both men arrested. In the midst of the confusion, Paiva disappeared, and Saturnino was accused of favoring the Portuguese man. Caetano refused to obey the arrest order and was taken by the fervent liberals into the theater. The building was surrounded by the Municipal Guard, which, according to the liberals, was made up mostly of Portuguese. After an exchange of gunfire, the crowd dispersed. Some of the liberals, both civilians and officers, headed to the 5th Battalion of Caçadores, on Rua dos Barbonos, seeking support.
The guards surrounded the barracks, arrested some rebels and continued patrolling the streets until the early hours of September 29th, when tempers cooled. For the moderates, the disturbances were a consequence of the anarchy spread by the exaltados. These, in turn, took the revolts as an expression of freedom in the fight against despotism. The Portuguese were considered colonialists and absolutists, and were thought to have gotten the best slice of the job market.
Disclosure of the disturbances at the theater by a moderate newspaper. A Aurora Fluminense, Rio de Janeiro, October 3, 1831. n. 00538. Hemeroteca da Biblioteca Nacional.
Image description: The image is a document printed in black and white. It is arranged vertically, with text aligned to the left. The title "Rio de Janeiro" is at the top, followed by "O Juiz de Paz da Freguesia do Sacramento aos Guardas Municipais da mesma" (The Justice of the Peace of the Parish of Sacramento to the Municipal Guards of the same). The text contains several lines of paragraphs, with some words highlighted in bold. There are no additional images or illustrations besides the text.But the disturbance was not an isolated incident. Between 1831 and 1833, eight uprisings took place in Rio de Janeiro. They were the informal way of exercising citizenship, built from the bottom up, with the participation of different social classes in non-institutional public spaces.
