Quintino Bocaiúva: da dramaturgia e jornalismo às práticas políticas (1870-1912)

Abstract

The year of 1870 became a landmark for historiography because of the Republican Manifest launch. Although this document is criticized for its ideas and theories just a little generic, it was the north and the pillar of Quintino Bocaiúva, one of its ideologists and main author. Since that decade, criticisms against the empire became frequent and, with the creation of the Republican Party of the court and the Republican Party of São Paulo, the Republicanism’ bases were being outlined in the country. Boicaúva, known in 1850’s and 1860’s because of his performance in dramaturgy and journalism, since the decade of 1870 became an increasingly political figure. Especially between the 1870’s and 1880’s, his disapproval of the monarchy was being reinforced. In each press speech, Bocaiúva insisted on showing that political system no longer attended the needs of the population and that its bases were corrupted. As example, Bocaiúva used dichotomous words to show that the monarchy meant delay, return, corruption and privilege, while the Republic was exalted as a signal of hope, future, progress, civilization and democracy. Therefore, this research aims to trace the paths that Quintino Bocaiúva took so that he could become known in the political world, to identify which kind of Republic he would like to be established in the country, and to understand what his ideas were about federalism and Republic. This thesis examines as sources some newspapers that Boicaiúva contribute to: O Acaiaba, O Paraíba, Diário do Rio de Janeiro, A República, O Cruzeiro, and O Paiz. For documentary analysis, this research is based on the study of political languages and the history of ideas. Furthermore, it is not intended in this work a merely biographical study, once it is understood that Quintino Bocaiúva’s figure must be analyzed together with the social and political context of which he belonged and performed.