O Conselho Presidial e o controle da palavra na província do Maranhão (1825- 1834)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze the tensions that marked the contiguity between the State and the right of freedom of expression in the early years of the Brazilian Empire through the clashes between the Presidential Council of Maranhão and the opinion vehicles circulating in the province . The Presidential Councils were organs created in the Constituent Assembly, by means of the Charter of October 20, 1823, and they had great prominence in the administration of the provinces, for granting to the regional elites a space of political representation. In Maranhão, between 1825 and 1834, the minutes of the Presidial Council record that this body dealt with several specific demands of the province, such as the organization of public education, agricultural problems, conflicts of jurisdiction between authorities, problems of infrastructure of the villages, controls indigenous peoples, among others. The focus of the research is on the role that the Presidium Council exercised in the control and surveillance of the opinions present in the papers and printed in circulation in the province of Maranhão, using the legal apparatus, referring to the abuses of the newly established freedom of expression. Among the cases in which the Presidential Council tried to curb the proliferation of opinions that oppose the government, we highlight the clashes with the newspaper O Farol Maranhense, throughout the year 1828.