The belief that government should refrain from meddling in business was one of the most important ideas adopted by the emerging innovators of Brazil in their attack upon the traditional society. The old regime had been characterized by concessions, monopolies, general prohibitions, special privileges, and chartered companies. Government agencies set prices, especially for staple foods. Business activity required a license, and its retention depended on compliance with numerous regulations and no offense to official sensibilities. The transport of goods was slowed at frequent inspection stations where lesser bureaucrats filled their time by demanding to see all requisite papers, duly notarized. Petty taxes caused inconvenience while producing little revenue. All these factors added weight to the other characteristics of a traditional society in discouraging private initiative, slowing the drive for profits, and making all businessmen the clients of the administration, that is, of the landed gentry that controlled the governmental machinery.

The modernizers in Brazil were outraged by this state of affairs and looked abroad for alternatives. The British middle class, probably because they had once been faced by similar problems, had already elaborated an ideology to combat the rigidity of that system. They had derived from Adam Smith, Jeremy Bentham, and other political economists the conviction that every individual should be free in his economic life to do as he pleased; for, it was said, society would only benefit if each man sought to do what was best for himself. Britain had made great strides while preaching this doctrine, and many young Brazilian leaders believed it was the key to British success.