ABSTRACT
This paper aims to analyze the political backstage of the so-called Conciliation Ministry, in the 1850s, through the trajectory of a painter and coiner, the Portuguese José Maria Cândido Ribeiro. The ministerial office led by Honório Hermeto Carneiro Leão is marked by historiography for having reconciled the interests of the Empire’s two main political groups, the Luzias, and the Saquaremas, bringing stability and governability to the period. Cândido Ribeiro, convicted in Bahia for counterfeiting, acted in the court as an agent of José Tomás Nabuco de Araújo and João Maurício Wanderley, two conciliation ministers. Using the correspondence sent by Cândido Ribeiro to João Maurício Wanderley, the minutes of the Brazilian Parliament, and periodicals of the time, I intend to present another view on the political environment and the clientelistic relations characteristic of Imperial Brazil.
Keywords:
Conciliation Ministry; Clientelism; Politics in Imperial Brazil; Trajectory; José Maria Cândido Ribeiro