Kings, Colonies, and Councilors: Brazil and the Making of Portugal's Overseas Council, 1642-1833
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Erik Lars Myrup [1]
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[1] University of Kentucky
University of Kentucky
Estados Unidos
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- Localización: The Americas: A quarterly review of inter-american cultural history, ISSN 0003-1615, Vol. 67, Nº. 2, 2010, págs. 185-218
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
In February 1724 two municipal councils (câmaras) in Brazil wrote to the Portuguese crown. Although presiding over the faraway cities of Belém do Pará and São Luís do Maranhão, they claimed the right to advise the king in matters of state. “[T]he first obligation of aldermen (vereadores),” they explained, “is to act as defenders of the cities and peoples that they represent, or in other words, to be councilors to the sovereign prince, … instructing him in what is necessary for the increase and conservation of the people.” In their capacity as councilors, the aldermen proposed a forty-point plan that would turn colonial administration in Amazonia on end. Among other changes, they recommended that missionaries should no longer have temporal jurisdiction over indigenous villages, that the power of overseas governors and justice ministers should be diminished, and that their own children and grandchildren should be given preferential treatment to serve in local positions. Concluding with a flourish, they promised that their recommendations would generate a “superabundance of wealth” and be inexpensive to boot, not costing a penny more than the price of paper (to print a royal decree).
