of the ministries, with the most important changes being made to the ministries of the Kingdom, Treasure and Public Works, which were renamed ministries of Interior, Finances and Development. However, Basílio Teles refused the position and, on the 12th, it was given to José Relvas. On 22 November, Brito Camacho entered government after the departure of António Luís Gomes, appointed Portuguese ambassador in Rio de Janeiro. During its time of power, the Provisional Government took a series of important measures that had long-lasting effects. To calm tempers and make reparations with the victims of the monarchy, a broad amnesty was granted for crimes against the security of the State, against religion, of disobedience, of forbidden weaponry usage, etc. The Catholic Church resented the measures taken by the Provisional Government. Among these were the expulsion of the Society of Jesus and other religious orders of the Regular clergy, the closure of convents, the prohibition of religious teaching in schools, the abolition of the religious oath in civil ceremonies and a secularisation of the State by the separation of Church and State. Divorce was institutionalised, as were the legality of civil marriage, the equality of the marriage rights of men and women, the legal regulation of "natural children"; the protection of childhood and old age, the reformulation of the Press laws, the elimination of royal and noble ranks and titles and the acknowledgment of right to strike action. The Provisional Government also opted for the dissolution of the then municipal guards of Lisbon and Porto, creating instead a new public body of defence an order, the National Republican Guard. For the colonies, new legislation was created in order to grant autonomy to overseas territories, an essential condition for their development. The national symbols were modified — the flag and the national anthem, a new monetary unit was adopted — the escudo, equivalent to a thousand réis, and even the Portuguese orthography was simplified and appropriately regulated through the Orthographic Reform of 1911. The Provisional Government enjoyed extensive power until the official launch of the National Constituting Assembly on 19 June 1911, following the election of 28 May of the same year. At that time, the president of the Provisional Government, Teófilo Braga, handed over to the National Constituting Assembly the powers he had received on 5 October 1910. Nevertheless, the Assembly approved with acclaim the proposal presented by their president, Anselmo Braamcamp