Public instruction in Brazilian and Portuguese constituent assemblies (1820-1823): a rarefaction of the possibilities of being

Abstract

The Portuguese Liberal Revolution (1820) and the Independence of Brazil (1822) established representative monarchical governments and parliamentarism. Built in opposition to the Old Regime and Portuguese colonialism, respectively, the new regimes identified public education as a major cause for the development of the countries and the affirmation of political administration. Departing from the debates of the constituent assemblies, and from treaties and projects of instruction of the 1820s, we follow the design of the educational building, which should adapt to an exemplary and conforming life. Mass instruction began the naturalization of a secular type of pastoral to establish a disciplinary-moral system that would accommodate students to the 19th century liberal societies. In this text, comparative history is an instrument of analysis to discuss the remote origins of the pedagogical devices that we have “naturalized” in the meantime.