Abstract
In this paper, we revisited the great and nearly unknown controversy about Pedro Ivo’s imprisonment in May 1850 in Rio de Janeiro. Then, we attempted to clarify the content of the political debate at that time, pointing out the strength of the struggle for a Constituent Assembly, advocated by over a dozen liberal periodicals. We continue by examining the impact of Pedro Ivo’s escape, the great banquet of the “national regeneration” and his sudden death, events that marked the current imagination. Such events had repercussions even among the peoples living in the woods of Alagoas, and because of this we discuss the reaction of the Military Colony director and the effort to “disinfest” the territory. A dispute of narratives existed, both of the performance of Pedro Ivo either as a bandit or as hero, and of the own memory of the Praieira Revolt. There were also different and simultaneous projects of future for Brazil in those years.
Keywords:
Liberals; saquaremas; Praieira Revolt; Constituent Assembly; political press