The unwanted children of the Nation

The struggles for Independence in Piauí and the exclusion of popular groups (1821-1823)

Abstract

In Piauí, what has been observed is that the victorious project of Independence was that of the local elites, formed from influential family groups and who were already part of the provincial administration. For these elites, social-political transformations represented a preaching, aiming at the maintenance of their interests in the new political arrangement of Brazil. However, in Piauí, the process was arduous and prolonged, marked by combats, alliances, and internal contradictions in various sectors of society, in which popular groups, mostly composed of the impoverished population of the province, joined the elites in a common struggle against the Portuguese Crown, at that moment presented as responsible for all their ills and misfortunes. In the midst of these struggles, the ruling groups sought to maintain their interests, while the popular layers, the unwanted children of the Nation, fought for their insertion in the new order. In this way, the present article discusses the process of adhesion of local family groups to the separatist cause, their movements in the local scenario in counterpoint to the movements in other captaincies and in the Colony’s headquarters, and how temporary alliances were established with local popular groups, using as methodology the review of the existing literature on the theme from the study of the History of Families.