First Republic: Voting, Coronelismo, and Coerced Voting

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⚠️ This material is an adapted History activity designed to explore the First Brazilian Republic, the history of voting in Brazil, coronelismo, and controlled voting (“voto de cabresto”) through short instructions, objective answer choices, matching activities, and contextualized historical images.

Number of questions in the activity:

6 adapted questions + complete answer key, distributed across 2 activity pages.

The sequence begins by developing an understanding of the concept of Republic and gradually progresses to characteristics of the First Brazilian Republic, exploring limitations on voting rights, the role of local political bosses known as coronéis, coronelismo, and controlled voting practices known as voto de cabresto.

Target audience:

Literate students in Middle School and, depending on their curricular adaptation needs, also High School, especially those who require additional support with reading, interpretation, and understanding historical content.

The material may benefit students with mild to moderate Intellectual Disabilities, ASD, ADHD, Down Syndrome, and learning difficulties in History, particularly when they need direct instructions, limited information per question, visual support, and reduced demands for extensive written responses.

It can also be used by History teachers, general education classroom teachers, and Specialized Educational Support (AEE) professionals.

Format:

PDF designed for color printing, containing:

🔹 6 adapted questions;
🔹 2 activity pages;
🔹 contextualized historical images;
🔹 short and objective instructions;
🔹 multiple-choice and matching activities;
🔹 a visual activity about who was allowed to vote in 1891;
🔹 standard writing version;
🔹 UPPERCASE version;
🔹 BNCC-related skills and learning objectives;
🔹 complete visual answer key.

⏱️ By purchasing this material, you save approximately 6 hours and 44 minutes of work that would otherwise be spent creating the activity, organizing the visual elements, adapting the questions, and preparing the answer key.

Content covered:

The activity addresses Republic; First Brazilian Republic; history of voting in Brazil; voting rights in 1891; voters; coronéis (local political bosses); local political power; coronelismo; influence of local political leaders; voto de cabresto; and control and pressure over voters.

Important for the teacher:

The activity organizes interconnected historical concepts into a progressive sequence, avoiding the simultaneous introduction of multiple political terms.

Students begin with a basic characteristic of a Republic: the head of state is not a king. They then develop an understanding of a political characteristic of the First Brazilian Republic, recognizing that voting could be subject to pressure and influence from local political leaders.

Next, students identify the large landowners who exercised significant local political power as coronéis. The images support this distinction by presenting different historical figures so that students can recognize the one associated with the context being studied.

The activity also explores who was allowed to vote in 1891, allowing students to associate different social groups with whether or not they were eligible to participate in elections as presented in the material.

Finally, two central concepts are differentiated: coronelismo, related to the influence of local political bosses over politics and the population, and voto de cabresto, related to the control and pressure exerted over voters and their votes. The visual representation of a voter standing in front of a ballot box helps make this power relationship more concrete.

Key Features:

✅ Presents the content in a progressive sequence: Republic → First Brazilian Republic → voting → coronéis → coronelismo → voto de cabresto.

✅ Uses contextualized historical images to support the understanding of political concepts that may be abstract for students.

✅ Differentiates between coronel, coronelismo, and voto de cabresto, helping students understand concepts that are related but have different meanings.

✅ Visually explores restrictions on voting rights during the First Brazilian Republic, helping students understand the political organization of the period.

✅ Uses short instructions, objective answer choices, and matching activities, reducing the demands of interpreting lengthy instructions and producing extensive written responses.

✅ Maintains relevant historical content while primarily adapting the way information is presented, understood, and answered.