Introduction¹

For the French writer, Marcel Proust,

The meaning of words have not changed as much over centuries as names have changed for us in the space of a few years. Our memories and our hearts are not large enough for us to remain faithful. We do not have sufficient place in our present thinking to keep the dead beside the living (^{PROUST, 1953}, p. 414).

In the Luso-Brazilian world, between the end of the 18th Century and the beginning of the 1800s, the memory and heart were not great enough to show that they were faithful and preserve the same names. Different characters and institutions succeeded each other in the social space, although they did not always represent significant changes, their replacement sometimes served only to disguise the earlier wear they had undergone. However, contrary to what the author of “In search of lost time” apparently wrote, in few years, in this world of thinking in the Portuguese language, some words acquired new meanings, demanding the forced coexistence of the old terms with the new, until those became definitely forgotten - if ever they did reach this point someday.

In 1813, the Dictionary of Morais e Silva recorded “Educação” - education as being “criação” “upbringing, one does for or gives to someone; teaching of things that enhance understanding, or serve to direct the will, and also what concernes to decorum” (SILVA, 1813, v. 1, p. 647). Whereas for “Instrução”/instruction, “teaching, education, document” are found. There are other figurative meanings such as instructions to military personnel, instructions of processes, giving Ministers instructions (SILVA, 1813, v. 2, p.168). In addition it presented the pedagogical meaning as being “tone and superiority of pedagogues”, giving the following as an example “the pedagogy of the bad philosophers of time has corrupted the imprudent youth”, bringing up a negative meaning of the word/vocabulary (SILVA, 1813, v. 2, p. 417). These were definitions that were still linked to the old politics, rooted in the experiences of the past.

It was only after the explosion of the Liberal Movement of Porto of 1820 and the constitutionalist movement of 1821, which mainly affected Pará, Bahia and Rio de Janeiro that were in the midst of a process, directed not only towards the frontiers of the Portuguese Empire, but in a dialog that found a point of union of its ideas and actions in the Atlantic (^{ALDEMAN, 2006}), that these concepts in conjunction with others, such as for example, Liberty, Citizen, Constitution, Public Opinion, Sovereignty began to be re-semanticized, by means of a wide circulation of printed matter of circumstances, which took over cities that already knew the press, such as Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, in Bahia. After all, these movement enabled a relative freedom of the press, from 1821, with the end of prior censorship, leading to a relative politicization and democraticization of concepts, in the conception of Koselleck (^{KOSELLECK, 2009}, p. 96-99)².

Educate, Instruct and Civilize: the languages of the periodicals

The writings of circumstances - especially the printed periodicals and political pamphlets - which came to light after the liberal movements of 1821 in Brazil - led to a fundamental concern: explain to the population the meanings of the new terms associated with the ideas experienced at that historical moment. Therefore, in its concepts and languages, the written word would open the space for the creation of new practices, since the text of a political nature formulated questions and answered them based on a framework of notions and principles which, to a certain extent, accepted, contested, or repelled predominant ideas and concepts at a determined time (Cf. ^{SKINNER, 2005}; ^{POCOCK, 1971}; ^{RICHTER, 1990}, p. 38-70). Consequently, these principles also recorded a historical actuality. It is necessary to distinguish the different perceptions that men have about vocabulary, of which they make use when they formulate their opinions that place them in the public space of power and enable them to capture the various views of the world, as affirmed by Fernández Sebastián (2009, p. 25-45).

In this sense, in the newspaper articles or pamphlets texts, it was common to pay attention to the meaning and role of instruction and education within the political changes of constitutionalism. It was necessary to transmit messages about renewed instruction, because while it was a colony of Portugal, Brazil would never be favored by the benefits of an education that would form “citizens that were useful to the Church, Homeland and Humanity” who must be capable of sacrificing their own interest “for the common good”, as “the Constitution of the world demands, according to the established order of the governor of society”. Towards the end of the 1821, this was the sense of which “genuine religious and civil virtue” consisted, as was affirmed by the Prospectus of the future periodical “Sabbatina Familiar de Amigos do Bem Comum”/Sabbath Family of Friends of the Common Good. It was an anonymous newspaper that was attributed to José da Silva Lisboa. Due to its political language, still rooted in old constitutionalism (^{POCOCK, 2003}), it demonstrated that there was no clear separation between religious and political morality, fruit of the new yearning for a liberal and constitutional language (^{Prospectus of the Sabbath Family, 1821 apud VIANNA, 1945}, p. 375)³.

Therefore, the proposal of the newspaper The Sabbath Family of Friends of the Common Good was observed to be directed towards concern about politics and education, but still having a strong sense of religion:

Adorable Providence has granted us the fortune of seeing a Constitutional Monarchy established in the United Kingdom, and the Courts of Lisbon, Based on the Constitution, have decreed not only the equality of right of all the most faithful subjects of the Crown in both hemispheres, but also the provision of public instruction, thereby opening the road of honor to talents and virtues. (^{“Sabatina Familiar de Amigos do Bem Comum”/Sabbath Family of Friends of the Common Good, Nº. 1, December 8, 1821}).

Out of this, the idea came up of setting up a Domestic Company of men of letters, “to gather in friendly conference to read and discuss the works on these subjects”, with broad cultural objectives that even reached a proposal of idealizing a University. There was some concern about providing some type of service to the Homeland, by suggesting reading sessions and discussion about “Liberal Education of Youth” (^{Sabatina Familiar de Amigos do Bem Comum/Sabbath Family of Friends of the Common Good, nº 1, December 8, 1821}). Consequently, the greatest concern Silva Lisboa had was to develop men of letters, although there was also mention of youth education that was broader in scope, so that young people could learn the fundamental principles of sound politics.

Whereas other periodicals, such as the ^{“Semanário Cívico”/Civic Weekly (1821-1823})⁴, in Bahia, revealed a certain uneasiness about the real progress of public instruction, an essential theme for the regenerative mentality, in order to be able to offer opposition to the Old Regime. Therefore, the cited newspaper brought to light a series of letters, and in one of these missives, its author declared: “[...] public instruction is the basis of the happiness of nations; books illuminate the multitude, humanize powerful men, delight the idleness of the rich, and easily instruct all the classes of society” (^{“Semanário Cívico”/Civic Weekly, March 1, 1821}). Instruction could only be achieved by means of a good education, so that it is necessary for “the boys to drink the elementary principles of the sciences with milk, and that they at least [learn to] read, write, [do] Arithmetic and [know] Grammar” ^{“Semanário Cívico”/Civic Weekly, March 1, 1821}). From the perspective of a political culture⁵ of liberalism, the author also affirmed that an “Oppressive and ignorant Government had more fear of the Lights, than they had of an armed enemy”. If, by these means, it were still possible to to capitulate, a government such as this, which had been in power up to 1821, would be unable to “counter-attack the lights with darkness, vices with virtue, and despotism with Freedom”. Therefore, a reform that would make it possible for progress to occur in public instruction would be essential, in order to elevate the people to the category of citizens (^{“Semanário Cívico”/Civic Weekly, March 1, 1821}).

The newspaper ^{“Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense”/ Fluminense Constitutional Reflection (1821-1822}) also demonstrated its concern relative to the need for instruction, because the only way to “prevent crimes and make the Government Last, is to disseminate lights and sciences throughout the State, like fruitful seeds of all virtues” (^{nº 18, March 12, 1822}).

In general, these periodicals were critical of the old teaching system, especially of the Jesuit system of education in force in the colony of Brazil - “the student spent many years on only learning Latin” - although they sometimes pointed out the merit of the Royal Classes and their public teachers of primary school, Latin, rhetoric and philosophy. In their opinion, however, the latter subjects had affected a small portion of society. They also insisted on the need for institution of public master’s and creation of public libraries, because “not all the fathers of families have the resources to pay masters and buy books” (^{“Semanário Cívico”/Civic Weekly, March 1, 1821}).

Moreover they criticized the method of teaching that had to be modernized, by adopting the Lancaster Method⁶: “The Lancaster method of mutual instruction is that which is generally adopted in all the educated nations today, and this is what we must adopt in all the cities” (^{“Diário Constitucional”/Constitutional Diary, nº 5, February 13, 1822}). A similar opinion was being defended by a Fluminense periodical that pointed out the backwardness of public education, either due to the “lack of skill of the Masters” or to “the inveterate poor method of application”. Hence, the need for introducing “mutual instruction, known by the name of the Lancastrian Method” as soon as possible (^{“Correio do Rio de Janeiro”/Rio de Janeiro Post, nº 108, August 23, 1822}).

In other correspondence, in the ”Correio do Rio de Janeiro”/Rio de Janeiro Post, in 1822, the Brazilian Chief wrote to his companions: “Our first care shall be our regeneration, without this we will have no freedom, no safety - either personal or of our property, we will take care of ourselves in public education [...] [because] without this, dear countrymen, we do not expect to form true Citizens” (^{nº 72, July 10, 1822}). Instruction, therefore, must not be summarize and teach to read and write. It was necessary to have “a Code of national public instruction” in order to make it possible for the Constitution to be placed under safeguards of future generations, transmitting a “Liberal Education” to the entire Nation (^{“Correio do Rio de Janeiro”/Rio de Janeiro Post, nº 96, August 8, 1822}).

Furthermore, from this perspective, they preached the proposal to create a “History and Geography lesson, not only because without these studies, it would be of little or no use to study Politics, a topic so necessary to a people who are regenerating themselves”. In addition, these studies were considered essential for those who intended to undertake preparatory studies for entering the University of Coimbra. To sum up, there was a need for creating colleges that would teach “all the elementary and political sciences” and the deputies elected in Brazil for the Courts in Lisbon in 1821 were expected to start proposing concrete actions directed towards public instruction (^{“Correio do Rio de Janeiro”/Rio de Janeiro Post, nº 108, August 23, 1822}).

As a matter of fact, with regard to education, on June 30, 1821, the General Courts of Lisbon decreed that “any citizen” should be offered education, determining “the opening of primary school, irrespective of the masters' exam or license by the authorities (^{“Coleção das Leis do Brasil”/Collection of Laws of Brazil 1821, 1889}, p. 18). The purpose of the above-mentioned decision was to extend the creation of private lessons in primary schooling, since instruction of the “people” was a fundamental point of the new language of liberalism throughout the entire Portuguese Empire. It was a way of instructing the people so that they would be able to become citizens. Therefore, a master in Bahia, José Antônio de Azevedo e Vasconcelos, who taught classes in pupils’ homes and maintained a primary school, began to call his school “Constitutional Lesson” Primary School. In 1823, in the midst of the war of independence, he offered - free of charge - to teach the children of the officers in the Batallions of the city of Bahia [Salvador], who fought against the “independentionists” (^{SILVA, 2010}, p. 699-700).

From the same perspective, a letter published in the ”Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense”/Fluminense Constitutional Reflection defended the idea that instead of constructing plaques, columns or obelisks to commemorate the important dates that marked the process of regeneration in Brazil, it would be more important to found a “College of public education, on whose gate, with Constitutional simplicity, the following inscription were to be engraved in gilded bronze letters”:

“Vinte e seis de Fevereiro do ano de M.DCCC.XXI” /Twenty-sixth of February of the year M.DCCC.XXI “Nove de Janeiro do ano de M.DCCC.XXII”/ Ninth of January of the year M.DCCC.XXII. Days of Glory and Freedom for the People of Rio de Janeiro. (^{Reverbero Constitucional Fluminense, nº 1, 1821, p. 255}).

This concerns a clear allusion to the constitutionalist movements of revolt in Rio de Janeiro (February 26, 1821) and to “Dia do Fico” (January 9, 1822 - the day that D. Pedro decided to stay in Brazil, rather than go back to Portugal to resume royal duties), which were fundamental milestones in this process of overcoming the old politics to enter into modern politics.

Even the official government shared this concern about the involvement of public power in a new proposal of education. The Prince Regent, in his Manifesto to the Peoples of the Kingdom, on August 7, 1821, stated that: the “Brazilian youth” would have a

National Code of Public Instruction, that would make the talents of this blessed climate germinate and vegetate abundantly; and it would place our Constitution under the safeguard of future generations,[thereby] transmitting a Liberal Education to the entire Nation, which will provide its Members with the instruction necessary to promote the happiness of the Greater Brazilian [entity] as a Whole. (^{“Diário do Rio de Janeiro”/Diary of Rio de Janeiro, nº 6, August 7, 1822})

Education, progress and civilization form part of a whole that functioned as a political project rather than a project of instructing the population that inhabited the Kingdom of Brazil. After all, from the point of view of the epoch, education was all that served for “forming habits” and to instruct meant “everything that provided knowledge” (^{“O Spectador Brasileiro”/The Brazilian Spectator, nº 57, November 12, 1824}).

It became evident that the intellectual and political elites, arising from the new language of liberalism, could not fail to consider education as a fundamental instrument for disseminating civilization and progress. The main objectives of the periodicals were to compete for the advancement of the people’s fortunes, “and for their civilization” (^{“O Regulador Brasílico-Luso”/The Luso-Brazilian Regulator, nº 1, 1822}). In reality, due to opposition to the liturgical world of the Old Regime, from which they intended to keep their distance, political modernity was defined by the capacity of men to intervene in reality, changing it by the use of reason and objective knowledge of the facts. Only in this way would it be possible to assure progress. Consequently, it was not sufficient to govern the establish order, but it was necessary to create the conditions for its transformation. By breaking with tradition, this transformation demanded the implementation of mechanisms capable of instilling new values - that is, of educating. Educate rather than instruct, because the course was set and defined by the explicit knowledge that these elites believed themselves to be the bearers. In this circumstance, education represented formation of the citizen, indispensable to the consortium of order and freedom, also requiring the mechanisms of instruction - reading and writing - which had to be learned at school by means of books on morals, but also on religion.

If these were the messages of the periodicals, the intentions, however, collided with reality on innumerable occasions. As from 1822, in the eyes of the population, mostly slaves, both the cosmopolitan “generation of 1790”, which gave origin to the Coimbrã elite⁷ formed by the University of Coimbra, who were used to using the private sphere of power of the Court and obsessed with the idea of empire; and the Brazilian nativist elite (elites brasilienses)⁸, raised on the land and aware of their local homelands, who could only converge on the priority of formation of a national elite in its image and likeness.

Regarding the fundamental levels of instruction, there was no lack of demonstrating good intentions. The Constitution of 1824 established that primary schooling was free of charge. The Law of October 15, 1827 determined the creation of primary schools in all the cities, towns, villages and even schools for girls in the most populated places. However, to a large extent these measures remained a dead letter. ^{(“Coleção das Leis do Brasil, 1827”, Collection of the Laws of Brazil 1827, 1878}, p. 71). It must not be forgotten that the right to citizenship excluded the slaves, and the Constitution of 1824 guaranteed free primary instruction only for citizens (^{Constituição de 1824/Constitution of 1824} art. 179, paragraph XXXII).

It was, however, necessary to give the concepts of instruction and education new meaning⁹, although the practice did not correspond to the theory. New colors and new meanings came to light by means of another instrument, capable of providing a civic pedagogy and lending new meanings to these concepts so that they could adapt to the new times and the languages of liberalism. To instruct and educate began to mean civilizing and moralizing the people. Consequently, the press was able to contribute a great deal to providing the Light and to the progress of instruction. This was not merely an educational project, but above all, a political project that was based on the Lights and made it possible to outline a public space of power (^{GOMES, FARIA FILHO & MESQUITA, 2018}, p. 604-626).

“Instrução Política sobre os direitos dos Cidadãos”¹⁰/ “Political Instruction about the rights of Citizens”: the messages contained in the Political Pamphlets

Those who seek something other than entertainment in a Book, and wish to find nothing serious, can exempt themselves from reading my Prayer; because it only tends to demonstrate the obligation of all good Citizens, of whom political society is composed, [to enter] the time we will fortunately be going into (^{Cathecismo Constitucional/Constitutional Catechism, 1821}, p. 1).

On various occasions, the texts of the political pamphlets were transformed into works of instruction. But now this concerned an elementary political instruction, of which the presupposition of educating the people was to elevate them to the condition of citizens. Furthermore, the pamphlets presented the fundamental precepts of the constitutional practices. By these means they sought to achieve a predominant role in the work of instruction and education in that combination of critical events, with the perspective of a new horizon (^{KOSELLECK, 1990}, p. 307-329) in renewing the meanings of these concepts.

As the pamphlets were more agile than the newspapers, they were presented as brochure written in more direct language with the aim of reaching a wider audience. The majority of them were written by a single author, and were directed towards day to day topics, particularly to political debates. They were not, however, works of a theoretical nature (^{NEVES, 2003}, p. 39-41; ^{CARVALHO, BASTOS & BASILE, 2014}, p. 15-16). As they were cheaper and circulated more rapidly, they became an easy way to follow-up the accelerated pace of events (^{BAECQUE, 1996}, p. 226), because they publicized the debate to public notice, indoctrinated the public, formulated, interpreted, fought against and defended ideas, proposed solutions and represented certain interests. By tracing a pathway between history and politics, these writings allowed the information to circulate throughout all the social sectors, and made the political facts acquire the status of innovations. They were interpreted as being vehicles of enlightened ideas, developed between the terrain of curiosity and action, and constituted as being a new public space (^{GUERRA; LAMPÉRIÈRE, 1998}, p. 5-21) for political thinking.

They acquired various forms, in order to disseminate the principles of 'Monarchical constitutionalism'/ constitutional monarchy, in addition to explaining liberal political vocabulary, common to the elites illustrated on both sides of the Atlantic, because they considered that divulging the printed matter had attributed a new significance to all the terms, in relation to which “a dictionary is of no use to us” (^{“Diário do Governo”/Government Daily, nº 105, May 12, 1823}), and that the conduct of the politicians had to be observed in order to understand this new language.

The pamphlets in the form of dictionaries were above all, dialogs, catechisms, prayers and sermons that had the characteristic of a civic or political pedagogy with the aim of instructing everybody about the new political vocabulary of constitutionalism and liberalism (^{CARVALHO, BASTOS & BASILE, 2014}, vol. 2, p. 19-20). These formulae of political debate were not invented by the Luso-Brazilian world, because they had previously been present - in one way or another - in the pamphlets produced at the time of the English revolutions, French Revolution, processes of Independence of the United State and Hispanic America. Indeed, as François Furet affirmed, “the eruption of the popular masses on the scene of history offers political pedagogy a new and immense public [...]”. Discourses, motions, newspapers are no longer directed to gaining the attention of instructed persons, but are submitted to the will of the “people” (^{FURET, 1989}, p. 61). This mainly concerned offering individuals education and instruction so that they could participate in political life, by forming virtuous persons, who knew their duties and rights, and who would be capable of making a commitment to their homeland and consolidate the new practices of the political culture of liberalisms.

The texts in the form of dictionaries - one of the most evident forms of the didactic nature of these publications - contained a set of polemic and innovative terms of political vocabulary, defined according the political positions of their authors. Here a polarization occurred between the semantic fields of liberalism and the practices of the Old Regime. An example is the “Dicionário corcundático”/Hunchback dictionary and its “Suplemento”/Supplement, written by José Joaquim Lopes de Lima who, from a constitutional point of view, sought to explain various terms used by the “corcundas”/hunchbacks - that is to say, by the followers of the old politics, in order to teach everybody the language of constitutionalism. For example, the concept of Constitution:

Plan of Disorder(It is a Hunchback, who speaks) invented by the spirit of the sect in its effervescence, which the people applaud - I do not know why: but even if it brought useful improvements with it, in order to be despicable it would be enough for it to have started from the bottom up; because only Kings and their ministers have the power, received from Heaven, to change the Government, which other men must obey blindly, just as a flock obeys its shepherd [...] (^{LIMA, 1821}, p. 5).

By means of irony and criticism, the dictionary sought to make the reader restore these words to “their genuine meaning”, in addition to that found in records of the dictionaries of the period. (^{LIMA, 1821}, p. 1). After all, as Fénelon had affirmed at the beginning of the 18th Century, when the language has been changed, dictionaries would serve to understand books worthy of posterity, which had been written during other times (^{FÉNELON, 1864}, p. 2).

Due to the illiteracy of society, these pamphlets also used a range of didactic resources, with one of the most used being texts written in the form of dialogs. In these writings, various characters (generally with antagonistic postures) discussed the topics of the moment or the polemic concepts that reflected the vicissitudes of continuity and rupture of the changes that agitated the Luso-Brazilian world. In a type of informal conversation, or one consisting of various questions and answers, the clashes occurred between constitutionals, on the one hand and defenders of the old values, on the other. For example, the Dialog between the Constitution and Despotism. The former, coming from Europe, would meet the “infamous despotism”, and wage a duel of words that would end with insults between the two interlocutors, who would then separate “not satisfied with each other”. Despotism would walk “on long journeys to Laybach, where he had to attend the Congress of Ministers, and this [the Constitution] for Brazil, where it has long been desired (^{Diálogo entre a Constituição e o Despotismo/Dialog between Constitution and Despotism, 1821, p. 9}). This literature was transformed into a simple and direct way of providing the teachings of the constitutional language.

Still on the wake of this concern about instructing the lower levels of the population, they took advantage of the continuing fundamental role of religion in Luso-Brazilian political life, by writing th pamphlets in the form of prayers. Two types may be pointed out: the first was the old custom of writing parodies of religious forms, which has been known since the period of modern times in Europe (^{BURKE, 1989}, p. 144-172); the second was the classical political catechism, very common in revolutionary France.

The constitutional prayers were presented as parodies of traditional prayers commonly recited by the people in their daily prayers. It was easy to recite the parody, because its melody reminded [people] of the true religious prayers. Thus, they learned about the new constitutional content. This aspect can, therefore, be verifies in the parody of the Sign of the Cross written at the time of the wars of independence. The Brazilians had to repeat the Sign of the Cross every day, in a posture similar to that of the same symbol that is made at the beginning of religious prayers, while the Portuguese general Madeira de Melo had not yet been expelled from Bahia:

Baianos! If, at the feet-of-lead

You owe something good

Victory will be ours

BY THE SIGNAL

Do it, because all evil

Do it bloody war.

So that they leave the land

OF THE HOLY CROSS

Madeira, that rude person

Will not escape through the net;

And all these despicable people

FREE US FROM THEM GOD

They and theirs were by you

Made of dust

So, allow it and want it

OUR LORD

He infuses you with value

So that you fall to pieces

By a hundred monkeys

OF OURS

Baianos, grind their bones

In live war without a pause

Because they are our cause

ENEMIES

See the false articles

That Congress has made

It did not come from there by liking it

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER

Who falls upon you

And takes the skin off you

Nothing happens by his wish

AND OF THE SON

So put the rope on them

Seek revenge for the insult

With the scourge of the shadow

AND OF THE SPIRIT

That when done with value

Will strangle the despised

Then your country will be

HOLY

God be willing, therefore,

That the Devil is a scourge

Owing to Madeira de Melo

AMEN, JESUS. (^{Sign of the Cross ...,1823})¹¹.

In the second case, the Catechisms are found, which were a publication that presented the constitutional precepts as types of religious dogmas, “covering them with a certain civic sacredness” (^{CARVALHO, BASTOS & BASILE, 2014}, vol. 2, p. 19-20). For example, the Cathecismo Constitucional/the Constitutional Catechism by an anonymous authors and the Cathecismo Constitucional oferecido às Cortes/Constitutional Catechism offered to the Courts¹². In both types of writing, use was made of different religious metaphors, as a strategy of rhetoric, configuring as works of elementary political instruction¹³. For example:

Question: What do you understand by Constitution?

Answer I understand the Law, or fundamental Laws of the Nation that determine the form of Government, the duties of those who govern, and those who are governed; as well as the regalia an attributes of one another.[...]

Q: Who has the right to make the Constitution?

A: The Courts (^{Cathecismo Constitucional/Constitutional Cathecism, 1821}, p.1).

Whereas the other Catechism was more incisive on the question of public Instruction in relation to the rights of citizens and about the interest that each of them had to reach, as a member of a society, in order to remain united with their first leader. From the point of view of this Catechism the lack of instruction would lead to lack of education, dominance of ignorance, and lack of knowledge by citizens of their duties and rights. Therefore, this absence of instruction also made it possible for corruption of the customs and dominance of disorder to occur in addition to enabling an “eternal combat between tyranny and anarchy”, making this situation extremely damaging to society (^{Beja. Cathecismo Constitucional/Constitutional Cathecism, 1821} p. 4). One of the solutions for avoiding this damage was to “animate/encourage [the establishment of] public schools by all means, so that the young people could be instructed in the true principles of good morals”. This did not refer exclusively to religious morals, but above all to the political morals of the common good.

Still following the line of permanence of religion in political subjects, there were the sermons. In general, they were prepared for the civic ceremonies, but were recited at religious festivals. Their content was almost always about political issues, permeated with religious elements. There was a curious Repertoire, printed in Bahia, about the duties of those who were involved in the elections. Among these the obligations of the parish priest were emphasized, who had to celebrate “Sung mass on the day of Elections”, and deliver a political sermon in which he explained the role and responsibility of his parish priests during the electoral process. Therefore, each citizen had to “vote with mature consideration” according to his conscience, however, “with eyes fixed on God, and on the happiness of the Nation”. After all, “by his vote, each citizen was committed to the inviolable and sacred duties of Religion; committed his conscience; his own decorum and public decency (which was so necessary) to maintaining and preserving, with dignity, the splendor and glory of an entire Nation” (^{Repertoire 1821}, p. 1). Thus, the presence of the dubious political language of liberalism was verified: the church and secular power merged, so that no complete disconnection of religion from the political world occurred.

It was necessary to transmit a civic education that could make a civilized element out of the people as was predicted in the languages of liberalism. And who were those responsible for this transmission? The historical actors - editors of newspapers and political pamphlets, intellectual elites, elected representatives of politics - that is to say, members of a restricted elite, who had to lead the public opinion that emerged from the political debates, sparked by the constitutionalist movement and the process of Independence (^{MOREL, 1998}, p. 300-320 and ^{NEVES, 2009}, p. 1011-1023). After all, as ^{Pocock affirmed (2013}, p. 69-72) the context could lead to a change in the acts of speech, by means of the use of a new political vocabulary. These were the historical actors that were responsible for intervening in politics by means of acts of statements that were issued by means of new languages, idealizing a pedagogical and instructive battle, in the manner of Kant, in order to transform the people, who had previously been subjects, into a true citizen, based on the premise of the “Lights of the century”. In this way, the Despotism of yesteryear became the enemy - the very denial of freedom - and so was censorship, promoted by the governments of the old Regime, the synonym of backwardness and despotic practices. Therefore, society needed public instruction so that this process of the lights of civilization could begin. After all, for Kant, man began to emerge from his “minority” when there was no desire to achieve knowledge. Politics left the private circle of the court behind and became public. Therefore, the process of enlightenment was made feasible by means of a public discussion, and all citizens were provided with it by means of an instruction that was based on civic pedagogy (^{KANT, 1985}, p. 110-117).

“Instruction of the People is the first source of public happiness”¹⁴: the rhetoric of argumentation

It was with these words that Deputy Antônio Gonçalves Gomide, representative of Minas Gerais in the Constituent Assembly of 1823, defended the project about the need for educating the young people of Brazil, when discussing the proposal for elaborating an educational treaty. When construction of the Empire of Brazil began, even after all the discussion of the “pamphlet war”, it was verified that the concern about finding ways to instruct and educate the Brazilian people continued, so that they could become a “a free, well governed and rich people” (^{Diário da Assembleia/Diary of the Assembly, [1823], 2003}, p. 489). Using the artifices of rhetorical argumentation, which became an indispensable resource for didactic purposes and mobilization to convince their audience, (^{REBOUL, 1998}, cap. 5; ^{CARVALHO, 2000}, p. 123-152), the deputies, who proposed to elaborate the new Constitution of the Empire, repeated the messages defended newspapers an pamphlets written in former years.

The main concern continued to be - guide and instruct the people. After all, as was the line of thought of the times “a well educated people” could be a sovereign, free and happy people. Therefore, a badly educated people was synonymous with a “wretched, poor people, subject to the yoke of Despotism” (^{Diário da Assembleia/Diary of the Assembly, [1823], 2003, p. 489}). One question, therefore, remained: who were the people who had to be educated and instructed? To whom should these writings be directed so that they would be capable of homogenizing society, so that they would behave themselves in accordance with the rules of a sound citizenship?

If the people had been planning a social order that was in opposition to the clergy and nobility throughout the Old Regime, based on the constitutional movements, the meaning of people had gained new outlines. From a global notion, people in Brazil were not only differentiated from the “class of the greats” but also from “the lowest class of the common people”. If the former were composed of “employers, nobles and the wise”, healthy, sensible people, the latter was formed by the populace, in which “ignorance, vices, superstition and an inborn hatred of superior people” reigned. In the early 1800s, the “people of Brazil” should not have been considered equal to “plebes” or “populace”. This was category in which the slaves and freedmen were placed; they formed the “class of the populace”. “The people” was composed of individuals who had “mechanical trades”, among whom were several Portuguese and some Brazilians, who did not, however, exhibit “the European ferocity” (^{Cartas Políticas/Political letters nº 3. “Diário do Governo”/Government Diary nº 86, April 18, 1823}). Within this understanding of the concept of “people”, members of a layer that already had some degree of education were included. When compared with other countries, this would raise them above the status that was vulgarly called “the people”, as Silvestre Pinheiro ^{Ferreira affirmed in his information to the Courts of Lisbon in 1822} (^{FERREIRA, 1822}). Therefore, in Brazil the class of the people was proportionally smaller than it was in Europe, because the class of “slaves and freedmen” were excluded from it¹⁵. The plebians represented the “populace”; that is, the lowest classes of society (^{Cartas Políticas/Political letters nº 3. “Diário do Governo”/Government Diary nº 86, April 18, 1823}).

Consequently, it was up to the illustrated elites to play the role of instructor of the people, in order to civilize and transform them into good citizens and lovers or order. It was not enough to merely instruct this layers in the new constitutional political language, but direct them and educate them according to the values of the period.

Since 1808, Hipólito José da Costa, editor of the “Correio Braziliense”/Brazilian Post, in London, affirmed that he intended to be the “the first to arouse public opinion” to the recent facts, seeking to excite the curiosity of the peoples. He believed that “man’s first duty in society is to be useful to its members”, and that it was up to this [man] to spread the lights that would “remove from the darkness or illusion, those whom ignorance has precipitated into the labyrinth of apathy, ineptitude and misconception” (^{“Correio Braziliense”/Brazilian Post, nº1, June 1808}).

In this sense, the concept of public opinion emerged - an authentic political force, the objectivity of which arose reason and its effectiveness resulted from the drive favor by progress of the Enlightenment. Therefore, its the directive function was perceived in these writings, in which the illustrated elites represented a point of balance between the sovereign and his subjects that would lead to the illustrated reforms necessary for political regeneration (^{NEVES, 1995}, p.132-133). From this angle, as early as March 1, 1821, José da Silva Lisboa, in his periodical O Conciliador do Reino Unido/the Conciliator of the United Kingdom, considered opinion to be “the queen of the world”, and in a later number, affirmed that the illustrated man had to “to direct Public Opinion well, in order to attack popular mistakes and the frenzied effervescence of some countrymen, who were more zealous than discreet, and who would rather burn than shine”.

Direct public opinion meant to maintain the new order. Without doubt, however, opposed to the sudden changes of this new order, it was intended to ensure the reign of wisdom and prudence over society. From then onward, this role would be played by education, which by means of means of didactic instruments of persuasion - that is, effective instruction, would be transformed into a powerful weapon of political control and the path to that which they defined as civilization. Frequently, their instruments were the periodicals and political pamphlets.

Finalizing....

In that time of political upheaval, when the clash between the practices of constitutionalism and the Old Regime, and consequently, of the process of Independence of Brazil, which was inserted in that context, the importance of printed matter as a new instrument of power was emphasized, since the written word allowed the identification of a new horizon of expectations (^{KOSELLECK 1990}, p. 305-327) of the men who experienced that process. Therefore, political pamphlets and periodicals became instruments of intervention in that which their authors - attuned to the new form of politics that would be born out of the French revolution - would conceive as a public space, destined to receive the debates between the different currents of opinion present in society. The authors became “patriots”, “friends of the people”, “sentinels” in order to maintain an attitude of constant vigilance like an “Argos” and “watchman” (^{VARGUES, 1997}, p. 234)¹⁶.

Thus, on identifying the sense of the messages that these texts brought, relating them to the political languages in vogue, the concept of instruction was found to have broadened its meaning, bringing within it a new life experience for the political actors. In addition to the teaching of knowledge, the concept brought a different view when coupled with a perspective of political education, which was effectuated by means of civic pedagogy.

Educate represented the formation of the citizen and civilizing society. However, as previously emphasized, the purpose of the rhetorical argumentation to which the authors resorted was to direct the conduct of those they considered to be the people. It was “a duty of the citizen [...] to direct public opinion, and lead it, as if by hand, to the true purpose of social happiness” (^{Conciliador Nacional/National Conciliator, 1822}). Now, in the political language of the time, people represented both the least educated and least addicted part of the nation, as well as the most hard-working and the poorest.

Consequently, in spite of speeding up the time in relation to changes, it was found that the old ideas still remained. Although instruction was [meant to be] for the people, above all, it was directed toward the elite. A broader civic education was made unfeasible, not only due to illiteracy, but also because the major objective was to homogenize the middle classes in relation to the new precepts of liberalism. Thus, these writings were transformed into vehicles of the political cultures of liberalism of the period of independence, as educational instruments of the elite themselves, and only marginally reached the classes situated at the fringes of privileged groups, with the main purpose of ensuring their subordination. At any rate, in opposition to despotism, they developed a pedagogy of constitutionalism, which served as a basis for separatism after 1822, leading to dissolution of the Luso-Brazilian Empire. In this case, it was necessary to construct an Empire based on order and civilization. To attain these objectives, a new mold of education would be necessary. [An education that was] politicized, democratized¹⁷ and secularized, that is, no longer based only on religious morals and customs.