1838 Portuguese legislative election
Open-knowledge reference entry
Parliamentary elections were held in Portugal on 12 August and 12 September 1838.
Electoral system
A new constitution was promulgated in 1838 following the September Revolution in 1836 and the elections were held based on a decree on 9 April 1838. The constitution provided for a bicameral parliament with a directly-elected Senate (replacing the appointed Chamber of Most Worthy Peers) and Chamber of Deputies. Voting was restricted to men over the age of 25 and income of at least 80,000 reals, although members of religious orders, servants, vagabonds and those still dependent on their parents were barred from voting. The voting age was reduced to 20 for men who were married, serving in the military, had graduated from university or were part of the secular clergy. Candidates for the Chamber were required to have a net income of over 400,000 reals, and at least half of those elected in each constituency were required to have been born in the area or have lived in it for at least a year. Candidates for the Senate needed to be at least 35 years old and had a higher income threshold, but were not required to have a geographic link to their constituency.
The 142 members of the Chamber of Deputies were elected from 28 multi-member constituencies with between 2 and 15 seats, with 116 representing the mainland, 12 from the islands and 14 representing overseas colonies. The elections were held using a two-round system, with candidates required to receive a majority of the vote to be elected in the first round, before a second round (which was limited to a number of candidates equalling three times the number of seats remaining to be filled) was carried out on a plurality basis.
Results
The result was a victory for the ruling Setembristas, who contested the elections in an alliance with their former Cartista opponents as the 'Electoral Association of the Centre'.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “1838 Portuguese legislative election” as open-knowledge reference entry. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as open-knowledge reference entry. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 9, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q48861850. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1838 and 1836.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1838 Portuguese legislative election”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1838 Portuguese legislative election primary sources, 1838 Portuguese legislative election archive and Portuguese research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “1838 Portuguese legislative election”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “1838 Portuguese legislative election” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.