The objective of this article is to analyse the process of institutionalisation of public elementary schooling associated with the political organisation of the constitutional monarchy and the legislation regarding citizen rights and prerogatives in Brazil, especially in the province of Minas Gerais, during the nineteenth century. During this century, two characteristics in Brazil were significant: the existence of a constitutional monarchy from 1822 to 1889 and the continuity of slavery until 1888. Paradoxically, the development of the idea of citizen rights and duties, and steps taken to provide access to elementary school, coexisted with these characteristics. Education was considered a decisive step for the effective implementation of social change. My hypothesis is that the new political structure also led to a new dynamic of interdependence between rulers and ruled as constituents of the civilising process underway. Even so, this was an extremely tense process whose results fell short of those intended by the elite governing authorities; by the end of the nineteenth century, Brazil still had an illiteracy rate of 85%. In order to understand this situation, an analysis of situations and conflicts present in the process of implementing public elementary education is essential. Important among these are poverty, ethnic and racial prejudice, political decentralisation of elementary education administration, disputes among local politicians and the definition of teachers as public servants and funding of school supplies. For this study, documents consulted included government reports, laws, official letters and correspondence among government officers, parents and teachers. The main theoretical concepts used were Norbert Elias' sociological theory for analysis of the civilising process and the dynamics of interdependence in the organisation of society, and the characteristics of postcolonial society discussed by Hilda Sabato, Marcelo Caruso and Miriam Dolhnikoff. (Contains 1 table and 27 footnotes.)