"Queremos a república, mesmo que tardia: a campanha republicana na imprensa de Minas Gerais" (1871-1889)

Abstract

The rupture with the pillars supporting the Brazilian monarchical regime was accompanied by the emergence and expansion of republican campaigns in the late 19th century. In this context, the press played an extremely important role, since every movement was articulated through it. In the locations where the publication of a republican newspaper is found, it is known that in that region there was a movement in favor of the Republic. We assume that the press was the main means of disseminating republican ideas and building a discourse of destabilization and crisis of the monarchy. This work seeks to connect the republican movement of Minas Gerais with the press, the stage of the sociability networks in which political journalists were inserted. For that, we analyzed the related news in the republican newspapers published in the province of Minas Gerais and which had a great circulation. We tried to identify in the newspapers the set of rules and values shared by the Republicans, so that it will be possible to have a better understanding of the proposals, the desires and hopes that these men were looking for in a new political regime. We understand that journals represent the expression of interests and projects, as well as the social motivations of this emerging group that sought space and power. Thus, the research identified the trajectories of the editors and writers of these republican newspapers from Minas Gerais, resulting in a prosopographic study of this group, which enabled us to understand whether these historical actors have something in common that justifies their positions and decision-making. The collective biography also allowed the understanding of the varied political positions and positions adopted in relation to the poignant themes of the time and to local republicanism, which was linked to a political discourse of historical resignification embedded in the very sense of the Republic.