By 1850 all danger of revolution had vanished.

The country began to enter upon a career of peace and progress under a regime which combined broadly the federal organization of the United States with the form of a constitutional monarchy.

Brazil enjoyed one of the few enlightened despotisms in South America.

Adopting at the outset the parliamentary system, the Emperor Pedro II chose his ministers from among the liberals or conservatives, as one party or the other might possess a majority in the lower house of the Congress.

Though the legislative power of the nation was enjoyed almost entirely by the planters and their associates who formed the dominant social class, individual liberty was fully guaranteed, and even freedom of conscience and of the press was allowed.
Negro slavery, though tolerated, was not expressly recognized.
Thanks to the political discretion and unusual personal qualities of "Dom Pedro," his popularity became more and more marked as the years went on.