Tiradentes

Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, better known by the nickname Tiradentes, was a key figure in the Inconfidência Mineira, a colonial Brazilian movement that sought to break away from Portuguese rule and establish a republic. When authorities discovered the conspiracy, Tiradentes was captured, put on trial, and executed by hanging. After Brazil became a republic, he was elevated to the status of national hero and designated the patron saint of the Military Police.

Early life

Tiradentes was born on the Fazenda do Pombal, a large estate near the village of Santa Rita do Rio Abaixo, in the Captaincy of Minas Gerais. He was the fourth of seven children; his father, Domingos da Silva Santos, was Portuguese, and his mother, Antônia da Encarnação Xavier, was Brazilian. A 1757 inventory of his mother’s belongings listed 35 slaves on the property, along with mining equipment and structures like slave quarters, communal kitchens, and an oratory with an external porch.

After his mother died in 1755, he moved with his father and brothers to the town of São José. His father died two years later, when Tiradentes was eleven, and the family lost its property to debt. With no formal education, he was taken in by his uncle and godfather, Sebastião Ferreira Leitão, a dentist. Tiradentes worked as a peddler and miner, later becoming a partner in a pharmacy in Vila Rica.

He practiced dentistry and pharmacy, earning the nickname “Tiradentes,” meaning “tooth puller”—a term used pejoratively during his trial. A friar noted that Tiradentes made artificial teeth that looked natural. He also occasionally acted as a doctor, using knowledge of medicinal plants gained from his cousin, Brother José Mariano da Conceição Veloso, a noted botanist.

Political ideas

Using his mining experience, Tiradentes became a terrain surveyor and later joined the Minas Gerais Dragoon Regiment. He commanded a detachment and traveled along the Caminho Novo, the road between Vila Rica and Rio de Janeiro used to transport gold to Portugal. Witnessing the heavy flow of gold and resources to the metropolis, he grew convinced that Brazilians were being exploited. Frustrated by his low rank—he never rose above alferes, the lowest officer rank—and his dismissal from command, he became disenchanted.

His trips to Rio introduced him to people who had brought liberal ideas from Europe. In 1788, he met a man who had returned from England, and together they formed a group of freedom seekers. The group included clerics and prominent locals such as Cláudio Manuel da Costa, Tomás Antônio Gonzaga, and Alvarenga Peixoto, who spread their ideas among the public.

At the time, Portugal’s demand for gold was high, but mine productivity was falling, leading to the derrama—a heavy tax that fueled rebellion. Influenced by Rousseau and the American Revolution, Tiradentes joined the Inconfidência Mineira, which planned an independent republic with São João del Rei as its capital and Vila Rica as a university town. Their proposed flag featured a green triangle on a white background with the motto “Libertas Quae Sera Tamen” (“Freedom, Even If It Be Late”). This flag later became the state flag of Minas Gerais, with the triangle changed to red.

Discovery, trial and execution

The conspirators planned to declare the republic on the day of the derrama in February 1789, when tax resentment would be highest. But Joaquim Silvério dos Reis, one of the group, betrayed the plot in exchange for a tax waiver. The governor canceled the derrama and ordered the rebels’ arrests.

A trial lasting nearly three years followed. Tiradentes and ten others were sentenced to death, but Queen Maria I commuted most sentences to perpetual banishment, except for those with aggravated circumstances. Tiradentes took full responsibility for the movement and was executed.