Voto, representação política e soberania popular na república Brasileira

Abstract

This paper deals with a discussion about the electoral system of the first Brazilian republican decade and its relations with the meanings of democracy, people, representation and popular sovereignty, that people shared in the period. Based on the use of the History of Concepts, the investigation about electoral laws, and the Constitution of 1891, it was possible to analyze the emerging of political rights and its expressions during the first years of the new regime in Brazil. Based on sources and historiographical debate, the article tried to understand how the regime, in its early years, built its main principles that sustained the process of decision-making, within the state as well within the civil society.