Ordem e segurança na província de Alagoas: a construção do Estado Nacional sob a ótica do executivo provincial de Alagoas (1840-1850)

Abstract

This research intends to examine how the problems related to the maintenance of order, tranquility and individual security in the Province of Alagoas were faced between 1840 and 1850. Since these aspects were considered important for the consolidation of the desired National State. To understand this process, the historiography already produced was used and we analyzed in a qualitative way the reports and speeches produced by the provincial executive during the first ten years of the Second Reign. It was believed that the absence of civilizing principles was what made man uneducated, and prone to criminality and disorder that could endanger the state. Then there was the need to control and discipline the poor and uncivilized masses in order to guarantee the preservation of the State. In the provincial sources studied here, it can be seen how these principles and concepts were interconnected and guided the paths proposed by the administrators of the Province of Alagoas.