The cart drivers' strike and the political debate in the city of São Paulo, 1850-1852

• Grant number: 25/15634-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2025
• End date: August 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - History of Brazil
• Principal Investigator: Maria Luiza Ferreira de Oliveira
• Grantee: Matheus Rodrigues Fernandes do Nascimento
• Host Institution: Escola de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (EFLCH). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus Guarulhos. Guarulhos , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 24/15963-3 - "Nas margens da história": Pedro Ivo, man and myth (1832-1865), AP.R

Abstract

São Paulo was a small city compared to Recife, Salvador, or Rio de Janeiro, but the province was important in the national economy and politics, both because of its coffee production and supply to the center-south, and because it was considered a stronghold of liberals, given its strong participation in the 1842 revolt. It is interesting to investigate how the forest wars and the trial of the Praieiros affected the city, as well as to understand the nature of the local political debate when Nabuco de Araújo arrived. When Judge Nabuco de Araújo concluded the trial of the Praieira defendants, he gained significant political capital. In recognition of his services, the ministerial cabinet sent him in 1851 to preside over the province of São Paulo. The idea was for Nabuco to take care of the elections and organize the conservative party in the province. At that time, the poet Álvares de Azevedo had written the poem about Pedro Ivo, was finishing his studies, and was giving republican speeches at the university. In 1852, after the troubled elections that generated much criticism in the newspapers, Nabuco de Araújo witnessed a movement organized by the cart drivers in the city, which he called a strike. The workers stopped working for about 15 days in protest against a new measure by the City Council. The Jornal do Comércio do Rio de Janeiro newspaper reported the event, connecting it to Nabuco's administration-as yet another "modernity" that the city was achieving, keeping up with the workers' movements.The movement has not yet been studied, and the research proposal is to study the strike and the political debate in the city between 1850 and 1852, seeking to understand the complex and multifaceted political culture that appeared on the streets of the city in those early years of the turn of the decade, a crucial period for my research.