Political representation in the Empire of Brazil: the electoral instructions of 1842

• Grant number: 11/19252-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Miriam Dolhnikoff
• Grantee: Rodrigo Marzano Munari
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research aims to study the electoral instructions of 1842 within a perspective that endorses the hypothesis of a representative government in nineteenth-century Brazil. To this end, we will analyze the debates on electoral legislation in the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, setting the demands of legislators and the different conceptions of representation then discussed, before moving to its comparison with the measures actually implemented by the Decree of 1842. So, we intend to show that these instructions responded to an intense parliamentary debate on the election issue and reveal a constant concern of legislators to improve the representative system in nineteenth-century Brazil.(AU)