Printed speeches of a political priest: a brief analyses of the "O Pregoeiro Constitucional"

Abstract

The present text analyses the "O Pregoeiro Constitucional", published by the priest and member of the Parliament José Ferreira Leite de Mello, in Pouso Alegre. First of all, I try to unfold how this political priest discussed the important events that preceded the resignation of Dom Pedro I, as he used the press as his main tool to survey the actions of the Executive Power and also as tribune to stand for moderate liberal projects. The study of the federalist and constitutional proposals made by José Bento, which gained new meanings in a short period of time, lead me to my second and broader goal: the understanding of the reasons and implications behind the transformation of political concepts and vocabularies that occurred in the first decades of the 19th century.