From traitors to patriots: an essay on political discourses and behavior in the independence process (1789-1823)

Abstract

Returning to the theme of the influence of the experiences of the revolts that precede the independence process and the contrasts between such events, this article examines the singular trajectory of two characters between the end of the eighteenth and the first decades of the nineteenth century. José Resende Costa Filho and Manuel Rodrigues da Costa participated in the Inconfidência Mineira (Minas Conspiracy) and, after serving their sentence with exile, returned to Brazil and played an active role in the political emancipation process from 1822. To this end, an effort is made to follow the course of action of each of them, from the conspiracy in Minas Gerais, to their political rehabilitation. This occurs with the participation in the debates on the demands made by the Portuguese courts to Brazil and, after the rupture, in the preparation of the Constituent Assembly of 1823. We seek to approximate, within what the available historical sources offer, the political languages adopted in the different circumstances in which they were involved, without failing to insert them in their contexts.