Disunited Kingdoms

The path towards independence in Correio Braziliense

Abstract

This article focuses on the role of Correio Braziliense in the independence of Brazil, following the evolution of the periodical’s positions from the defense of keeping the Portuguese empire, the viability of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and Algarve, and the advantages thereof for the «mercantile class», the commercial bourgeoisie whose interests it advocates, until the quick exhaustion of the formula. When the radical Parliament elected on the wake of the 1820 Liberal revolution took action intended to reinstate Brazil as a colony, a change of strategy occurred in Correio: the paper began to mobilize public opinion towards independence, in view of assuring territorial and political unity under a Constitutional monarchy. In contrast it is also presented here the response to the secession of Brazil by other Portuguese Liberal newspapers and by notorious Absolutist supporters such as José Agostinho de Macedo and José Daniel Rodrigues da Costa.