Abstract
This article aims to examine the way the concept of "regress" (return) used in the Brazilian Parliament in the late 1830s, in the context of the temporalization of partisan politics. At the end, we intend to investigate whether the "return" was a "reaction" as defined by Benjamin Constant: an attempt to turn back the course of history and return to absolutism. Particular attention is given here to the thought of Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos, liberal renegade and chief theoretician of the "system of return".
Keywords
Bernardo Pereira de Vasconcelos; history of concepts; History of Brazil; return; reaction