This era witnessed the consolidation of the country's army and navy, culminating in the Paraguayan War in 1865, and profound changes in the social sphere, such as the gradual abolition of slavery and the encouragement of European immigration to join the Brazilian workforce.

This tax increase lasted until the mid-1860s, when the imperial government, under pressure from exporting groups, reduced tariffs to alleviate Brazil's fiscal deficit, caused mainly by the Cisplatine War.

[16] The Liberals, on the other hand, supported the independence of the provinces with a stronger parliamentary government, the abdication of the moderating power and the senate's lifelong mandate, the abolition of slavery and the biennial election of deputies.

Both were created during the regency period (Conservative in 1836 and Liberal in 1831), but reached the height of their popularity during the Second Reign, with D. Pedro II remaining neutral between the two, although always vigilant, advising the conciliation of their ideas.

98 of the 1824 Constitution), granted by Emperor D. Pedro I in March 1824, which was based on the political ideals of Benjamin Constant (1767–1830) about a neutral power capable of adjusting and regulating the other three classic branches: executive, legislative and judiciary.

To prevent this from happening, Pedro II appointed Luís Alves de Lima e Silva, Baron of Caxias – who had previously suppressed the revolts in Minas and São Paulo – as Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

In Olinda, the leaders of the protest launched the Manifesto to the World and began to fight against the troops of the imperial government, which intervened and put an end to the largest and last insurrection of the Second Reign.

[25] At the local level, the revolt was influenced by the liberal ideas of those who complained about the lack of provincial autonomy and characterized by a repudiation of the monarchy, with demonstrations in favor of political independence, the republic and radical reformism.

Although the conservative leader Eusébio de Queirós had defended to the legislators the need to decide for themselves to cease trafficking and to preserve the image of a sovereign nation, the influence of Great Britain was not hidden from public opinion.

The process, which had already begun with the repeal of the Manufacturing Prohibition Law – dated back to 1785, and one of the triggers for the outbreak of the Conjuração Mineira – upon the arrival of the royal family in Brazil, improved, since, at that time, the high investments made with the purchase of slaves were directed towards the mechanization of industry and the payment of wages.

In 1878, ten years before the abolition of slavery, the Agricultural Congress held in Rio de Janeiro brought together coffee growers to discuss the issue of the workforce, where they decided to facilitate the arrival of European immigrants.

European immigration contributed to the urbanization of Brazilian society, and along with the wage labour, led to the emergence of an incipient internal market for popular consumer items in the country, which eventually resulted in the creation of the first industrial units in Brazil.

On the other hand, since not all European immigrants to Brazil worked in coffee plantations, but also in commerce, services and handicrafts, there was space for the process of urbanization in Brazilian society, especially in the Southeast, as well as the creation of commercial banks in the country.

In the agreements signed in 1810 and, later, with the recognition clause for Brazil's independence, England requested the abolition of slavery in the country in the medium term but, until Pedro II assumed office, nothing effective had been done.

The extinction of the servile element, through the influence of national sentiment and private liberality, in honor of Brazil, has progressed peacefully in such a way that it is today an aspiration acclaimed by all classes, with admirable examples of self-denial on the part of the owners.

When private interest itself spontaneously collaborates to rid Brazil of the unfortunate inheritance that the needs of agriculture had maintained, I trust that you will not hesitate to erase from Brazilian law the only exception that appears in it to be in antagonism with the Christian and liberal spirit of our institutions [...].

However, since 2006, unpublished correspondence from Princess Isabel, dated August 1889, has been released, revealing her intentions, in a possible third reign, to promote compensation for former slaves, a wide-ranging agrarian reform to distribute land to newly freed blacks, as well as women's suffrage.

At the end of the Empire – precisely in May 1889 – the cabinet of João Alfredo de Oliveira included in the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the legislative work the need to expropriate areas on the margins of railroads under construction and navigable rivers, to establish agricultural 'colonies' that would house poor landless farmers and slaves recently freed by the Golden Law.

[48] However, the power of the landowners was so strong and influential that in June of the same year, João Alfredo's cabinet was overthrown after a demoralization campaign against him in parliament and the press; the Viscount of Ouro Preto, the last prime minister of the Empire, was chosen in his place.

However, in the south, the colonial disputes inherited from Portugal and Spain over control of the navigable rivers and plains that shape the borders continued after the independence of the countries in the Plata region (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil).

The Empire's successful passage through this conflict and the pacification of the Ragamuffin Revolution and the Praieira Revolt considerably improved the nation's stability and prestige, making Brazil a hemispheric power.

[61] The Paraguayan War, fought between Paraguay and the Triple Alliance (Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay), was the largest international armed conflict in South America, lasting from December 1864 to March 1870.

[1][70] However, the end of slavery triggered an explicit switch of support to republicanism by the big coffee farmers, which was the final stroke to any remaining belief in the neutrality of the crown, since they felt aggrieved at losing their property and not being compensated.

The imperial government planned to exploit the easy credit available in Brazil as a result of its prosperity and made large low-interest loans accessible to coffee growers, as well as handing out titles of nobility and other honors to influential political figures who had become discontented.

Although republicanism was an elitist ideology adopted only by high-ranking military officers - and the general population felt a certain aversion to it, as they preferred the monarchy – its combination with positivist ideals became a threat to the country.

The main acts that contributed to the end of slavery in Brazil were:[1][74] Since the colonial period, the Catholic Church had been an institution subject to the state, through the patronage regime, which gave the Emperor control over the clergy and ecclesiastical affairs.

[1][78] The government of the last prime minister of the Empire, Afonso Celso de Assis Figueiredo, Viscount of Ouro Preto, presented a bold program of political reforms to the Chamber of Deputies: freedom of religious faith, freedom of education and its improvement, the expansion of voting privileges by abolishing the census vote, the end of life terms for the senate and, most important of all, increasing decentralization – which in turn would transform the country into a federation by allowing the election of municipal mayors and provincial presidents.

On the morning of November 15, 1889, Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca assumed command of the revolted troops, occupying the headquarters in Rio de Janeiro and initially dismissing the Viscount of Ouro Preto.

[80]In the opinion of the Viscount of Ouro Preto, who was deposed from the presidency of the Council of Ministers on November 15, the proclamation of the republic was a mistake, as he expressed in his book Advento da ditadura militar no Brasil:[81]The Empire was not ruin.

The Empire effectively abolished the death penalty, extinguished slavery, gave Brazil immortal glories, internal peace, order, security and, above all, individual freedom such as there had never been in any other country.