Azeredo Coutinho, José da Silva Lisboa and the metropolis-colony relations during the crisis of colonial system: conceptions of the Portuguese-Brazilian economic thinking between mercantilism, pragmatismo and the liberal ideas

Abstract

Objetive: The purpose of this article is to analyze the economic thought of José Joaquim da Cunha Azeredo Coutinho, the Bishop of Olinda (1742-1821), leader of the Brazilian enlightenment thought, and José da Silva Lisboa, the Viscount of Cairu (1756-1835), who was considered one of the most important critics of the colonial system in Portugal and one of the formulators of the economic policy of King João VI in Brazil. We sought to rescue the main proposals and theoretical-philosophical influences for the definition of a reformist project of the relations between the metropolis and its American colony, in order to preserve the bond that united Portugal and Brazil. The methodological procedure was based on the use of rhetoric, that is, it consisted of the analysis of the economic ideas defended in the main works of these two authors, published between 1794 and 1820, and its context, identified in the works of their critics and commentators, paying attention to the influences that these two authors received from the dominant trends and authors of the European economic thought, such as the mercantilists, the French physiocracy and the liberal thought of the eighteenth century. The analysis of the Luso-Brazilian economic thought during the crisis of the colonial system revealed the ambiguities of a period in transition. For Azeredo Coutinho, the preservation of the metropolis-colony relationship between Portugal and Brazil required the revision of the restrictions on production and trade, while the Viscount of Cairu shows itself to be quite compatible with the historical context experienced, defending a radical change in the Portuguese foreign policy considering the economic liberalism.