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This article questions the treatment given to the Additional Act of 1834 as a milestone of political decentralization of the Empire, a reading that is present in a significant part of the historiography of the 20th century regarding 19th century Brazil. Seen from this perspective, the Act would mean the institutionalization of the proposals of the "exalted" liberals, active in Brazilian politics at the period. In order to achieve the proposed objective, this study first shows how this historiography is anchored in formulations of texts produced by politicians who participated in the strong confrontations among the imperial parties that begun in the 1840s. In a second moment the article demonstrates the possibility of understanding of this memory as congruent with the vision of the "moderate" liberals, opponents of the "exalted", and the recent constitution in historiography of an interpretation not adhered to it, based on the detailed exploration of the debates of the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]