Pedro Rodrigues Fernandes Chaves

Pedro Rodrigues Fernandes Chaves (1810–1866), later Baron of Quaraim, combined law, provincial politics, and diplomacy. Born in Porto Alegre, he studied law at Coimbra and São Paulo and entered the magistracy. In Rio Grande do Sul he served in the provincial assembly and edited the Correio Oficial da Província de São Pedro in 1836. His published work included an address opening a criminal jury session at São Francisco de Paula in 1833. ¹

Chaves briefly headed Brazil’s Washington legation between the missions of Ernesto Ferreira França and Gaspar José Lisboa. He succeeded Ferreira França as chargé in May 1839. After Washington, Chaves became president of Paraíba in 1841–1843 and represented that province, and subsequently Rio Grande do Sul, in the Chamber of Deputies. ^{2, 1}

From 1853 until his death in 1866 he sat in the imperial Senate for Rio Grande do Sul. He led the provincial Conservatives and, with Liberal leaders, organized the political Liga to overcome local party divisions. He joined the Brazilian Historical and Geographical Institute in 1839. ¹