Teófilo Braga

Joaquim Teófilo Fernandes Braga [ ʒuɐkĩ tiɔfilu fɯɾnɐðɯʃ bɾaɣɐ ] ( born February 24, 1843 in Ponta Delgada in the Azores; † January 28, 1924 in Lisbon ) was a Portuguese writer and statesman. He was the first president of his country after the fall of the monarchy. He was twice (1910-1911 and 1915 ) President of Portugal.

Life

In his youth, Braga was coined by the early death of his mother. He studied law at the University of Coimbra, Braga 1868 includes a law degree from, 1872, he was appointed at the University of Lisbon for the literature professor.

During this time, Braga makes especially with a series of publications on the history of Portuguese literature a name. Also Braga has published four books of poetry. In his works he supports the philosopher Auguste Comte and positivism leads to the philosophical discussion in Portugal.

Braga was a staunch supporter of the Republic and was a consistently anti- clerical policy. This he explains in an essay on the Church ( The Church and the modern civilization - A Igreja ea Civilização Moderna ). In 1879 he published the article " Positive solutions of Portuguese politics " ( Soluções Positivas because Política Portuguesa ) in which he speaks out in favor of abolishing the monarchy and the republic.

1888 Braga, becoming the first Republican elected ever in the history of the country, in the Cortes, the Portuguese parliament.

In January 1910, he moves up to the leadership of the Republican and is a member of the Political Directorate of the Portuguese Republican Party (PRP ) for which he was elected in August 1910 in Lisbon as a deputy. After the fall of the monarchy Braga is finally appointed on October 5, 1910 the first President of the Provisional Government of his country.

Portugal had no republican constitution, Braga was therefore only an interim president at this time. 1911 a constituent assembly is then chosen and adopted a new constitution. After this, the President should not be elected directly by the people but by Parliament. The Cortes chose Manuel José de Arriaga for the first constitutional president of the country. This ended on September 4, 1911, the first presidential Braga.

1915, only four years later, the Republic had been maneuvered into a major crisis. The Constitution gave the President has no power to dissolve parliament. The political landscape had become fragmented in Parliament sat for a variety of political parties, so that a government majority was no longer possible. Since he could not dissolve Parliament, President de Arriaga saw finally forced to appoint a military, General Joaquim Pimenta de Castro, head of the government. This staged a coup on January 25, dissolves the parliament, suspended the constitution and ruled dictatorially ( dictatorship of Swords - ditatura the espadas ). However, De Arriaga remains president. The dictatorship of de Castro is overthrown on 14 May by an uprising Democratic- Republican forces. Even President de Arriaga, who had, after all, called de Castro as head of government is compromised and is forced to resign. Teófilo Braga is re-appointed to the interim president. His second presidency ends on October 5, 1915, when Bernardino Machado is elected by Parliament as the new President.

Braga was married and had two children, of whom one died shortly after birth.