O discurso modernizador de Rui Barbosa (1879-1923)

Abstract

This paper aims to study Rui Barbosa’s speeches of political modernisation from the end of the 19th Century to the middle of the 20th Century. Through the speeches given by Rui Barbosa, we intend to find elements of his political modernity, from the main events in Brazilian history during this period. One of the main initial subjects of this research was the study of his political formation and his fundamental influence in the construction of political thought in Brazil, thereby attempting to correlate the origin of his thought with the process of consolidation of the liberal values that he preached, especially at the time of the First Republic. So it was essential for us to understand the content of his liberal thinking, inserting it into the necessary contexts, during the process of construction of the Brazilian Republic. To carry out this task we investigated a large set of documents on different facets of his formation: his legal, journalistic, literary and political career. We focused mainly on this last item, considered by the bibliography on the theme. Rui Barbosa’s political modernity was present in debates on the republic, federalism and abolitionism.