The meaning of liberty in Thomas Jefferson and the linguistic context of the American revolution (1774 - 1787)

• Grant number: 16/01307-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: September 01, 2016
• End date: February 28, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of America
• Principal Investigator: Marcos Sorrilha Pinheiro
• Grantee: Marcos Sorrilha Pinheiro
• Host Investigator: Denver Alexander Brunsman
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: George Washington University, United States

Abstract

The study of liberal thought in the Americas always took into account the relationship between this current of thought and slavery on the continent. Consequently, the United States could not be different, especially when, in the last quarter of the twentieth century the historiography turned the spotlight on the investigation of the "paradox" resident in the speeches of the "fathers of freedom" in relation to their slaveholder's condition. Among the various targets set, Thomas Jefferson was the one who suffered more attacks, since the values highlighted by him in the US Declaration of Independence contrasted with his slave owner reality. However, these analyzes may have incurred into what Quentin Skinner (1969) named of prolepsis mythology, when assigning to subjects of the past, present linguistic senses and meanings. Precisely because of this, our research assumes that an investigation on the meaning of Liberty in Thomas Jefferson should be based on three assumptions: at the beginning of independence did not exist a meaning to liberty previously reasoned and widely shared among its actors; the idea of freedom has formed through the acts of communication set in the linguistic context of the American Revolution; and finally, that the concept of liberty was not linked to the concept of slavery at that time. The verification of such hypotheses depends on the complete access to the writings of Thomas Jefferson of that period, as well as some materials produced by his interlocutors, such as letters and public speeches. Equally, it will be need to access an updated bibliography on the theme, which we do not have in Brazil. That is why it is essential that such an investigation be linked to an American institution, in this case George Washington University (GWU) and under the supervision of an expert researcher in the studied period as Prof. Dr. Denver Brunsman. (AU)