Inconfidência Mineira - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Inconfidência Mineira (ĩkõfiˈdẽsiɐ miˈnejɾɐ, Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

Conspiracy) of 1789 was an unsuccessful Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian independence movement.

It was a result of the confluence of external and internal causes. The main external cause was the repercussions in this Portuguese

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

colony

Colony

In politics and history, a colony is a territory under the immediate political control of a state. For colonies in antiquity, city-states would often found their own colonies. Some colonies were historically countries, while others were territories without definite statehood from their inception....

of the independence, in 1776

History of the United States (1776–1789)

Between 1776 and 1789, the United States emerged as an independent country, creating and ratifying its new constitution, and establishing its national government. In order to assert their traditional rights, American Patriots seized control of the colonies and launched a war for independence...

, of the thirteen British colonies

Thirteen Colonies

The Thirteen Colonies were English and later British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America between 1607 and 1733. They declared their independence in the American Revolution and formed the United States of America...

in North America, a development that particularly impressed the intellectual elite living in the captaincy of Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...

. The main internal cause of the conspiracy was the decline of gold mining

Gold mining

Gold mining is the removal of gold from the ground. There are several techniques and processes by which gold may be extracted from the earth.-History:...

in that captaincy. As gold became less plentiful, the region's gold diggers faced increasing difficulties in fulfilling tax

Tax

To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...

obligations to the crown. When the captaincy could not satisfy the royal demand for gold, it was burdened with an additional tax on gold, called derrama.

Conspirators seeking independence from Portugal planned to rise up in rebellion on the day that the derrama was instituted. However, the conspirators lacked both well-formed plans and an overall leader. Some of the conspirators were republicans

Republicanism

Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...

, others were monarchists

Monarchism

Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...

. Some favored the abolition

Abolitionism

Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...

of slavery

Slavery

Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...

while others judged abolition as impractical at that time. The conspirators did put forth a few economic and social ideas: the promotion of cotton

Cotton

Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....

production, the exploitation of iron

Iron

Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...

and saltpeter

Potassium nitrate

Potassium nitrate is a chemical compound with the formula KNO3. It is an ionic salt of potassium ions K+ and nitrate ions NO3−.It occurs as a mineral niter and is a natural solid source of nitrogen. Its common names include saltpetre , from medieval Latin sal petræ: "stone salt" or possibly "Salt...

reserves, a proposal to give incentives to mothers to have many children, and the creation of a citizens' militia

Militia

The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

.

The conspiracy attracted a great number of military personnel, priests, and intellectuals, as well as the poets Cláudio Manuel da Costa

Cláudio Manuel da Costa

Cláudio Manuel da Costa was a Brazilian poet and musician, considered to be the introducer of the Neoclassicism in Brazil...

and Tomás Antônio Gonzaga

Tomás Antônio Gonzaga

Tomás Antônio Gonzaga was a Portuguese poet. One of the most famous Neoclassic Brazilian writers, he was also the ouvidor and the ombudsman of the city of Ouro Preto , as well as the desembargador of the appeal court in Bahia...

(1744-1807?). Among the best known participants were Joaquim José da Silva Xavier

Tiradentes

Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, known as Tiradentes , was a leading member of the Brazilian revolutionary movement known as the Inconfidência Mineira whose aim was full independence from the Portuguese colonial power and to create a Brazilian republic. When the plan was discovered, Tiradentes was...

, best known as "Tiradentes"; José Álvares Maciel philosopher and chemistry student, and Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrade (1756-1792) of the regiment of the dragoons. Tiradentes, who came from Andrade's regiment, was the independence movement's most enthusiastic propagandist.

Conspirators

The Inconfidência was inspired by the ideals of the French liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

philosophers of the Age of Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

and the successful American Revolution

American Revolution

The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...

of 1776. The conspirators largely belonged to the white upper class of minerals-rich Minas Gerais

Minas Gerais

. Many had studied in Europe, especially in the University of Coimbra, and some had large debts with the colonial government. In the context of declining gold production, the intention of the Portuguese government to impose the obligatory payment of all debts (the derrama) was a leading cause behind the conspiracy. The conspirators wanted to create a Republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

in which the leader would be chosen through democratic elections. The capital would be São João Del Rei

São João del Rei

São João del-Rei also spelled São João del Rey or São João del Rei is a historical city in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil.Population: 40,600 inhabitants....

, and Ouro Preto

Ouro Preto

-History:Founded at the end of the 17th century, Ouro Preto was originally called Vila Rica, or "rich village," the focal point of the gold rush and Brazil's golden age in the 18th century under Portuguese rule....

would become a university town. The structure of the society, including the right to property and the ownership of slaves, would be kept intact. Eventually, three participants in the independence movement revealed the conspirators' plans to the government and the rebels were arrested in 1789. One of the informants was Joaquim Silvério dos Reis (1756-1792). Among the movement was also the lawyer Alvarenga Peixoto

Alvarenga Peixoto

Inácio José de Alvarenga Peixoto was a Colonial Brazilian Neoclassic poet and a lawyer. He wrote under the pen name Eureste Fenício.-Biography:Peixoto was born in Rio de Janeiro, to Simão Alvarenga Braga and Maria Braga...

that would adhere to the unsuccessful 1789 Minas Conspiracy, alongside the poets Tomás Antônio Gonzaga

Tomás Antônio Gonzaga

and Cláudio Manuel da Costa

Cláudio Manuel da Costa

Cláudio Manuel da Costa was a Brazilian poet and musician, considered to be the introducer of the Neoclassicism in Brazil...

, the priest José da Silva de Oliveira Rolim and the alférez Joaquim José da Silva Xavier (a.k.a. "Tiradentes"). After Joaquim Silvério dos Reis, a member of the conspiracy, delated the movement before it could take place, Peixoto was captured, arrested and sent to exile

Exile

Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

in the city of Ambaca

Ambaca

Ambaca is a town and municipality in Cuanza Norte Province in Angola....

, in Portuguese Angola, Africa, another colony of the Portuguese Empire

Portuguese Empire

The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...

, where he lived until the end of his life.

Aftermath

Judicial proceedings against the conspirators lasted from 1789 to 1792. Lieutenant Colonel Francisco de Paula Freire de Andrade, Tiradentes, José Álvares Maciel, and eight others were condemned to the gallows. Seven more were condemned to perpetual banishment in Africa, the rest were acquitted. Following the trial Queen Maria I

Maria I of Portugal

Maria I was Queen regnant of Portugal and the Algarves from 1777 until her death. Known as Maria the Pious , or Maria the Mad , she was the first undisputed Queen regnant of Portugal...

commuted

Commutation of sentence

Commutation of sentence involves the reduction of legal penalties, especially in terms of imprisonment. Unlike a pardon, a commutation does not nullify the conviction and is often conditional. Clemency is a similar term, meaning the lessening of the penalty of the crime without forgiving the crime...

the sentences of capital punishment

Capital punishment

Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

to perpetual banishment for all except those whose activities involved aggravated circumstances. That was the case for Tiradentes, who took full responsibility for the conspiracy movement and was imprisoned in Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

, where he was hanged on 21 April 1792. Afterwards, his body was torn into pieces, which were sent to Vila Rica in the captaincy of Minas Gerais, to be displayed in the places where he had propagated his revolutionary ideas. The anniversary of his death is celebrated as a national holiday

Public holiday

A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....

in Brazil.

Conspirators

Aftermath

Further reading