Benjamin Constant Botelho de Magalhães (18 October 1836 – 22 January 1891) was a Brazilian military officer and political thinker. Primarily a positivist, influenced heavily by

Auguste Comte Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...

, he was the founder of the positivist movement in Brazil ( Sociedade Positivista do Brasil, ''Brazilian Positivist Society''), and later this led to his republican views. He left the Brazilian Positivist Society because of internal disagreements, but remained an ardent pupil of Comte until the end of his life. Benjamin Constant was born in

Niterói Niterói (, ) is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality of the state of Rio de Janeiro (state), Rio de Janeiro in the Southeast Region, Brazil, southeast region of Brazil. It lies across Guanabara Bay facing the city of Rio de Janeiro and forms ...

. He had a difficult childhood and attempted suicide at the age of 12. He served in the Paraguayan War, and had a large family. He felt underpaid and unhappy as a soldier. An intellectual at heart, he was a great supporter of Comte's Religion of Humanity. His republican views led him to found the Clube Militar (or Military Club), with Deodoro da Fonseca, in May 1887. It was based in the Praia Vermelha Military School, and, shortly before his death, helped to organize a coup to overthrew Emperor Pedro II and establish a republic. The Brazilian town of

Benjamin Constant Henri-Benjamin Constant de Rebecque (; 25 October 1767 – 8 December 1830), or simply Benjamin Constant, was a French people, Franco-Switzerland, Swiss political thinker, activist and writer on political theory and religion. A committed repub ...

, Amazonas, near the

Amazon River The Amazon River (, ; es, Río Amazonas, pt, Rio Amazonas) in South America is the largest river by discharge volume of water in the world, and the disputed longest river system in the world in comparison to the Nile. The headwaters of t ...

and the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian border, was named after him. He was considered ''the founder of the Republic'' in the Constitution of 1891, having died earlier the same year in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, aged 54.

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Museu Casa de Benjamin Constant
1836 births 1891 deaths People from Niterói Comtism {{Brazil-politician-stub

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