Negociantes e Caixeiros na Sociedade da Independência (Traders and Clerks in a Society of Independence) by Lenira Menezes Martinho and Riva Gorenstein are in reality Two different texts that are brought together which have made entirely original contributions to the study of our political emancipation.

In the first part, Lenira Menezes Martinho analyzes the political role of clerks in the independence movement and early regency, covering issues of citizenship and social mobility - In the second part, Riva Gorenstein addresses the issue of nepotism and the origins of the ruling elites of the First Empire, tracing the social profile of large tracts of merchants and their political role throughout the period of independence.