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Lucia Maria Bastos Pereira das Neves The forgotten in the independence process: a history to be made |
Almanack, Guarulhos, n. 25, ef00220, 2020 http://doi.org/10.1590/2236-463325ef00220 |
with another Brazilian consular agent - Antônio Gonçalves da Cruz - or the famous Cabugá of the Revolt of 1817[1]. However, to reach this post in 1824, our pamphlet left its mark on the process of constitutionalization and separation of Brazil. Data about Rebello is scarce, but it is known that he came to Brazil still young, dedicating himself to commerce, probably, at the beginning, as a traveling salesman. But how did he get caught up in politics?
In February 1821, Silvestre Rebello was appointed by D. João VI as Judge of the Mixed Commission between Portugal and Great Britain. This Commission was a kind of court dealing with imprisoned illegal slave ships, located in Rio de Janeiro and Freetown, Sierra Leone. In the midst of his pamphlet activity, in which he defended the idea of a constitutional government whose sovereignty was shared between the King and the Nation, he founded in 1822, together with José Bonifácio (its president) and Count of Palma, the Philotechnica society, becoming its secretary. According to Oliveira Lima, it was an association that, behind its veneer of knowledge, had a political bias in order to bring together the different provinces in Brazil in a community of shared ideas of which the most illustrious spirits of the time should have been part of; thus, even in the view of the same author, it was sought to use intelligence to guide and discipline the “spirits”[2]. Its operation was authorized by the then prince regent D. Pedro. That same year, the Society published the print Annaes Fluminences de Ciências, Artes e Literatura, prefaced anonymously by José Bonifácio. However, the activities of this society did not continue and it was extinguished together with its periodical. In tune with the political ideals of the Patriarch of Independence, he was one of the first to join the Brazilian cause, being one of the constitutional citizens who contributed to the celebrations of the Empire, as can be seen in the Diário do Rio de Janeiro of November 11th, 1822. In this
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