The formation of skilled labor for the rebuilding of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake was managed by local authorities and was concerned with technical capability, the efficiency to commercialize their products and the inclusion of artisans in an ordained economy. The main care was with a teaching system that limited people's ability to learn. To instruct a mechanical worker was to form him in the corporative conception of public order, as well as giving him a practical education that would make him apt to live in an illustrated Court, and nothing more. Love and charity were pre-requisites for those who would teach, and they mark the learning process with formative practice or exemplary punishment. In 18th century Minas Gerais the molds of labor organization and skill trade learning would have followed Lusitanian patterns and taken the city of Lisbon as a model.
learning process; Minas Gerais; mechanical worker