Joaquim Gonçalves Lêdo

Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo
Statue of Gonçalves Ledo on the Monument to the Independence of Brazil, São Paulo
Born	(1781-12-11)11 December 1781 Cachoeiras de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Portuguese colony)
Died	9 May 1847(1847-05-09) (aged 65) Sumidouro, Rio de Janeiro, Empire of Brazil
Nationality	Brazilian
Occupation	Journalist and politician
Known for	Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense

Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo (11 December 1781 – 9 May 1847) was a Brazilian journalist and politician. He was active in the freemasonry movement in Brazil. He was one of the leaders of the more liberal and democrat faction during the confused period around the time of the declaration of independence of Brazil in 1822.

Joaquim Gonçalves Ledo was born in Cachoeiras de Macacu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 11 December 1781. His parents were Antonio Gonçalves Ledo and Maria dos Reis. At the age of fourteen he went to Portugal to complete his secondary education, and then enrolled at the University of Coimbra to study medicine. When his father died in 1808 Ledo cut short his education and returned to Brazil. He found a job as a clerk in the army arsenal.

The freemasonry movement in Brazil was similar to that of France, tending to support a republican form of government. The Pernambucan Revolt, in which a Brazilian republic was declared on 6 March 1817, had many freemasons among its leaders. The revolt was suppressed by the army. On 30 March 1818 King John VI of Portugal, who had taken refuge in Brazil from the Napoleonic Wars in 1808, signed a decree prohibited all secret societies. There was a liberal revolution in 1820, and in April 1821 John VI returned to Portugal, leaving his son Prince Pedro as regent. Ledo was a freemason, and helped reinstate the Comércio e Artes lodge in 1821.

Ledo was Liberal and deeply patriotic. He had absorbed the democratic ideals of the encyclopédistes, but accepted that Brazilian independence could only be achieved under a constitutional monarchy. Unlike the wealthy landowners of the southeast he wanted a more democratic government in Brazil. He and Januário da Cunha Barbosa founded the influential newspaper Revérbero Constitucional Fluminense (The Echo). Its first issue appeared in Rio de Janeiro on 15 September 1821, promoting independence.

On 9 December 1821 the Cortes of Lisbon ordered Prince Pedro to return to Portugal. He refused. Dom Pedro named José Bonifácio de Andrada Minister of State and Foreign Affairs – in effect Premier. In response to threats of a return to the status of a colony subordinate to Portugal, a decree of 16 February 1822 created a Board of Attorneys General of the Provinces of Brazil. José Gonçalves Ledo proposed to this board that an elected Constituent Assembly should be convened. Pedro accepted the proposal and ordered the convocation of the assembly in June 1822. José Bonifácio accepted the decision but proposed indirect elections, which was eventually agreed upon. Ledo was elected a deputy.