Towards freedom of teaching: the myth of the United States in eighteenth century Brazil (1862-1879)

Abstract

This article investigates the way how the myth of the United States emerges in eighteenth century Brazil, especially in some of the discourses about public education available in books and ministerial reports about the issue published from 1862, year of the publication of the first edition of Cartas do solitário, by Tavares Bastos, until 1879, when the freedom of teaching was consecrated by the imperial government. Our aim is to understand the political and cultural motives of such references, with special attention to their pedagogical objective in relation to the theme of the freedom of teaching, a polemic issue in the second half of the nineteenth century, once it was in conflict with the educational policy of the conservative party, which was hegemonic in the direction of government since, at least, 1837, when it was under the leadership of Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos (1795-1850). We analyzed the texts of the following authors, besides the already mentioned Tavares Bastos: Liberato Barroso, Antonio d’Almeida Oliveira and Leôncio de Carvalho.