Entre São Luís, Lisboa e o Rio de Janeiro: conexões atlânticas e atuações parlamentares das bancadas maranhenses nas Cortes Portuguesas e na Assembleia Geral Legislativa do Império do Brasil (1820–1833)

Abstract

This thesis is dedicated to the study of constitutionalism and politics in the province of Maranhão, based on the actions of deputies and senators from the Maranhão delegation in the Portuguese Cortes of 1821 and in the General Legislative Assembly of the Empire of Brazil (1826-1833). The analysis highlights the experience and Atlantic connections of liberal philosophy embedded in Portugal and Brazil in the 1820s, within the context of the "political unity" and "national unity" disseminated with the Porto Revolution (1820) and propagated in the organization of the Brazilian State after the proclamation of Independence and the "adhesion" of Maranhão to the Brazilian Empire on July 28, 1823. The historical investigation emphasizes the "political actors" of Maranhão who played a leading role in the project of conciliation between Lisbon and the province of Maranhão in the work of the Portuguese Cortes and, subsequently, in the conduct of political projects that outlined the construction of Brazil as an autonomous political body. This research analyzes the actions, positions, and multiple political relationships of the Maranhão delegation before and during their parliamentary term, as well as their defense of provincial and national interests within the context of building Brazilian national unity. After discussing the political landscape of the early years of the 1820s, with the echoes of the Porto Revolution and the legislative work of the Cortes, the investigation focuses on the first and second legislatures of the Chamber of Deputies (1826-1833) and the parliamentary work of the senators from Maranhão. This political landscape included, respectively, deputies Manoel Telles da Silva Lobo, Manuel Odorico Mendes, Francisco Gonçalves Martins, João Bráulio Muniz, Antônio Pedro da Costa Ferreira, and Manoel dos Santos Martins Velasques, and senators João Inácio da Cunha and Patrício José de Almeida e Silva. This research is guided by the hypothesis that the heterogeneous actions of the Maranhão delegations, from the Cortes of Lisbon (1821) to the General Legislative Assembly of the Empire of Brazil (1826), served as a mechanism to support political and economic groups during the transition to an autonomous Brazilian state. The theoretical and methodological approach focuses on the perspectives of the New Political History, the study of political languages, and the perspective of Connected History, constituted by the circulations and interactions between non-isolated historical spaces. The methodology employed is bibliographic, documentary, and prosopographical in nature, with the documentation organized serially to allow for the analysis of collective biographies within the context of the social and political dimensions of the citizens elected to the positions of deputy and senator general of the province.