His government was marked by several revolutions. Ruling in an authoritarian fashion, Peixoto defeated a naval officers' rebellion against him in 1893–1894 and the Federalist Riograndense Revolution in the States of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina during the same years. His government was marked by an increased centralization of power and nationalism, with the "florianista" cult of personality being the first phenomenon of a favorable political expression towards a republican politician in Brazil.