This study is an attempt to make a new reading and a criticism of some of the researches and evidences about the Inconfidência Mineira (1789). It aims at contributing to the criticism of some current theses on the subject, mainly those that corroborate the existence of a defined national and liberal project to which the inconfidentes adhered. Brewed in a context of transition between the Ancien Regime and the Modern Age in rank values such as honor and precedence clashed with emerging class perspectives such as wealth and property, the movement was the expression of ambiguities and contradictions typical of that period. Its performers, actions and projects can be better understood if considered in the context of social and economic heterogeneity which the movementãs political content and meaning directly express instead of the context of a strong ideological cohesiveness around a pre-defined project for a Nation.
Inconfidência Mineira; historiography; politics