"Written by two Brazilians, friends of the nation and the fatherland." These words, which in 1822 appeared on the title page of the liberal newspaper Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense, referred to its two editors: the canon of the Royal Chapel, Januário da Cunha Barbosa, and Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo, a lawyer, journalist, and inveterate republican.
Figure 1 — Reverbero Constitucional Fluminense. Rio de Janeiro, RJ: Typ. Nacional, 1821-1822. Fundação Biblioteca Nacional [per700223_1821_00001]
Image description: The image is a black-and-white book cover. From top to bottom, there is the title "REVERBERO" in capital letters, followed by "CONSTITUCIONAL FLUMINENSE." Below, it reads "ESCRITO POR DOIS BRASILEIROS," followed by "AMIGOS DA NAÇÃO, E DA PATRIA." Next is "TOMO PRIMEIRO." In the lower center, there are two seals, one with a circular symbol and the other with a coat of arms. Below the seals, it reads "RIO DE JANEIRO," followed by "NA TYPOGRAPHIA NACIONAL." The date "M. DCCC. XXII" is at the bottom.A Fluminense from Cachoeiras de Macacu, Gonçalves Ledo was born in 1781 and, like many of his generation, headed to Portugal at just 14 years old in order to study law at the University of Coimbra. On the old continent, he became fascinated with the revolutionary ideals of the French Republic and grew close to the world of freemasonry – which, at that time, represented an important center for the formation and spread of the public spirit. Rushing back to Brazil due to his father's death in 1808, he was unable to finish his course in Coimbra. However, he brought back a wealth of renewed conceptions about the common good and a dose of political unrest.
Already in his mid-thirties, he was involved in the founding of the Masonic lodge “Comércio e Artes” and the “Clube Recreativo e Cultural da Guarda Velha” – fraternal associations where discussions of liberal convictions ran freely. But his political activity on the urban stage of Rio de Janeiro would truly become evident from the intense mobilization in favor of the Brazilian cause of Independence, in the early years of the 1820s.
Figure 2 — Portrait of Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo. Oscar Pereira da Silva, 1925. Public domain / Museu Paulista Collection [ref.: 1-19548-0000-0000]
Image description: This is a painting depicting Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo. The figure is centered, wearing a black suit with a white tie. In the background, there is a brown wall and a white circular frame. On the left, part of a table with gold details can be seen. On the right, there is a red curtain. The work was created by Oscar Pereira da Silva, dated 1925.Not only because of the appearance of the vibrant Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense – a paper that acted as a true vector for spreading "dangerous ideas," such as freedom of expression and human rights –, but also because, as a democrat and republican, he organized petitions that produced concrete effects on the course of institutional politics. Such was the case of the one that received eight thousand signatures, demanding that the prince regent remain in the face of the decision of the Portuguese Courts, which resulted in the "Dia do Fico." Or even the petition, signed six thousand times, which asked D. Pedro to convene a Constituent Assembly. Upon learning of the petition, the prince went so far as to admit in a letter to his father that "the people are right (...) without a Cortes Brazil cannot be happy. (...) Laws made so far from us by men who are not Brazilian and who do not know Brazil's needs cannot be good." One more point for the political action format organized by Gonçalves Ledo: on June 3, 1822, a decree was issued calling elections for the General Legislative and Constituent Assembly of Brazil.
Regarded as an “exalted liberal” in the field of Brazil's cause for Independence, Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo represented a “brasílica” elite — of the land, patriotic and separatist — as opposed to an elite more aligned with the interests of a Luso-Brazilian empire, which in a way maintained relations with the Portuguese Courts.
It was from this position that Gonçalves Ledo became the main intellectual leadership of a political current opposed to José Bonifácio's centralizing project. The dispute took on defined contours after the founding of Masonic lodges for each of the rival groups – “Grande Oriente do Brasil” and “Apostolado da Nobre Ordem dos Cavaleiros de Santa Cruz” – and ended up bursting into the open tragically when, in November 1822, Gonçalves Ledo was accused by José Bonifácio of conspiracy and republicanism. His newspaper and Masonic lodge were shut down, he was threatened with death, and he ended up having to flee to Buenos Aires – in a risky operation, in which he had to disguise himself as a woman and, later, as a friar. The episode further shook relations between D. Pedro I and Bonifácio. But the fact is that Gonçalves Ledo only returned to Brazil in November 1823, after being acquitted by the Rio de Janeiro Court of Appeals.
Bronze sculpture of Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo, by Ettore Ximenez. Monument to Independence, Ipiranga, São Paulo. Photo by Percival Tirapeli.
Image description: The image shows a bronze statue of a man sitting in a chair. The figure is wearing a suit with a shirt and tie, and his legs are crossed. The background consists of a gray stone base.The liberal Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo even managed to be elected deputy of the Provincial Assembly of Rio de Janeiro in 1822, while he was still in exile, and only took his seat the following year. In 1828, he was invited by D. Pedro I to become a minister and was awarded the Imperial Order of the Rose and the title of marquis. However, he refused both the invitation and the royal honors. He abandoned politics and freemasonry in 1834, retreating to a farm in his hometown, Cachoeiras de Macacu, where he died in 1847.
Bibliographic References
ASLAN, Nicola. Biography of Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Maçônica, 1975.
LUSTOSA, Isabel. Insultos impressos: the war of journalists during Independence, 1821-1823. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2000.
LUSTOSA, Isabel. D. Pedro I: a hero with no character whatsoever. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2006.
GOMES, Laurentino. 1822. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, 2010.
