Rather than create a political system for which the country was not prepared, they established a constitutional monarchy.

But Brazil itself was too vast and its interior too difficult of access to allow it to become all at once a unit, either in organization or in spirit.

The idea of national solidarity had as yet made scant progress.

The old rivalry which existed between the provinces of the north, dominated by Bahia or Pernambuco, and those of the south, controlled by Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, still made itself felt.

What the Empire amounted to, therefore, was an agglomeration of provinces, held together by the personal prestige of a young monarch.
Since the mother country still held parts of northern Brazil, the Emperor entrusted the energetic Cochrane, who had performed such valiant service for Chile and Peru, with the task of expelling the foreign soldiery.