RIO GRANDE DO NORTE, BRAZILIAN INDEPENDENCE AND THE “GHOST” OF FEDERALISM

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between the Independence process in Brasil and the province of
Rio Grande do Norte, considering the history and historiography on the subject, the context and local reactions to the news
of the Aclamação and the evidence of the rapprochement between Francisco de Brito Guerra, the only Deputy General of
the said Province, and the federalists of Pernambuco. Based on these assumptions, our issues revolve around: how are
Independence celebrations, especially those of the sesquicentennial, in Rio Grande do Norte, closely linked to the production
of local historiography on the subject? How did the Independence process deepen important issues, such as interprovincial
territorial disputes? And, finally, what other projects and dreams can be glimpsed in the first decade of Independent Brasil,
especially those linked to federalist ideals? In order to answer these questions, we mobilized, in addition to the bibliography,
a set of multifaceted sources formed by the legislation of the Empire, newspapers and the academic journal of IHGRN,
which give us possibilities to respond to the problems pointed out above in the form of the text that follows.