Mouzinho da Silveira

Who was Mouzinho da Silveira?

José Xavier Mouzinho da Silveira was a statesman, jurist and Portuguese politician, as well as one of the most important personalities of the Liberal Revolution of 1820, responsible for legislation and administrative reforms that shaped Portuguese institutions, taxation and justice in the period after the Constitutional Charter. Imprisoned after the Abrilada, he turned one of the most uncompromising defenders of the Charter, remaining in exile for several years after 1828, and only returning in 1834 to defend his legislative agenda, exiling himself once again in 1836. In the final ten years of his life, Mouzinho da Silveira retired from public life, before his untimely death.