Page:The Forgotten in the Independence Process.pdf/32

 Lucia Maria Bastos Pereira das Neves The forgotten in the independence process: a history to be made

Almanack, Guarulhos, n. 25, ef00220, 2020 http://doi.org/10.1590/2236-463325ef00220 land of law”, joining forces loyal to Pedro I, being part of the army of Labatut. She still had two daughters: one married to a Brazilian born who followed the cause of Independence from an early age, and the other, still a child, who always accompanied her mother.

Maria Bárbara still lived in Brazil for many years. Her husband died in 1824, when, as a representative of Portugal, arrived in Brazil on the Rio Maior mission (1823) and was banned from landing in Bahia and died on high seas on the trip back to Portugal. A widow, however, despite her choice for Portugal, she ended up recognizing the role of D. Pedro as fundamental for saving Brazil from anarchy. There are records of her presence in the halls of the capital of Bahia as a great lady, praised for her kindness. As Wanderley Pinho describes, she was a striking presence in the salons, being considered by some as a goddess to whom many offers were dedicated.

From this mosaic of thought-provoking individuals - social agents - some questions can be raised, enabling different approaches and new sources to re-discuss the Independence of Brazil. It turns to the examination of the past, which, by definition, no longer exists and which, therefore, it is up to the historian to reconstruct from what was left of the safest - his sources that are in the present.

First, it appears that, through the analysis of the handwritten pamphlets, anonymous writers are found, whose language was more violent and forceful than that used in the printed pamphlets, justifying the origin of the former’s popular nature. In this sense, the information that contains this material offers different perspectives on the constitutionalist movement that Brazil knew in 1821 as well gives Forum