José Acúrsio das Neves was undoubtedly one of the most energetic personalities favourable to the industrialisation of Portugal in the context of the economic hardships the country faced between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. He was son of António das Neves, who had a degree in Canon Law from the University of Coimbra, and Josefa da Conceição. His family's wealth would enable him to enter the University's Faculty of Law in 1782, where he completed his studies in 1787. He then began an ascending career in the judiciary, to which he would devote almost his entire life. At the same time, José Acúrsio das Neves is today considered to be one of the forerunners of economic and social history in Portugal. His deeply-rooted political convictions will be forever a part of his character — he confessed his desire to be "useful to the Homeland and to my Sovereigns by following the path of the Humanities".

He completed his apprenticeship as a magistrate at the Desembargo do Paço and started working at the Casa da Suplicação and in the opposition to the Lugares de Letras , where he published his first panegyrical booklet (1794), which was addressed to the president of the Council of the Desembargo do Paço , Count Luís de Vasconcelos e Sousa (1740-1807). Appointed as a judge for Angra do Heroísmo , a post he would hold from 1795 to 1799, he remained on Terceira Island, and was promoted to chief magistrate from 1799 to 1802, taking part in the executive government of the Captaincy. After finishing his commission in the Azores, he married Delfina Maria das Neves, the widow of one of his uncles, who was born in Sarzedo , in the municipality of Arganil , and had a considerable income. He returned to mainland Portugal in 1807, after witnessing the departure of the Royal Household and the Court to Brazil, on the verge of the first invasion by the Franco-Spanish armies lead by Marshal Junot (1771-1813). Facing the gravity of such events, José Acúrsio das Neves reacted stormily to the weakness and defeatism of the Regency and the pessimism of a large part of the intelligentsia and the military classes — he decided to launch an energetic pamphlet activity to counter these tendencies.

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