Upheaval, Violence, and the Abolition of Slavery in Brazil : The Case of São Paulo
1969; Duke University Press; Volume: 49; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1215/00182168-49.4.639
ISSN1527-1900
Autores Tópico(s)Brazilian History and Foreign Policy
ResumoU ISTORIANS HAVE OFTEN noted contrast between Brazil's peaceful solution to problem of slavery and violent way which United States resolved question. The Brazilians abolished human bondage through parliamentary legislation that was hailed with parades streets; North America abolition required a bloody civil war. Seen this context, Brazilian experience appears to be a striking example of self-restraint, moderation, and political compromise. Concentration upon peaceful nature of 1888 settlement, however, can be misleading, for it overlooks tensions that prevailed during anti-slavery campaign Brazil. As United States, years of antislavery movement Brazil were years of crisis. A careful examination of Brazilian society 1880s reveals not only that abolition was a controversial issue, but that violence and threat of violence were important ingredients successful effort to end slavery. Nowhere Brazil was this turmoil more significant than province of Sao Paulo. Until last phase of antislavery campaign planters of Sao Paulo stood opposed to abolitionism along with their counterparts Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro. These fazendeiros of King Coffee provinces, who possessed more than two-thirds of slaves Brazil, formed a bastion of reaction debates over slavery. During 1880s Sao Paulo surpassed all other provinces coffee production, and this dynamic economy placed its leaders a strategic political position. If their resistance could be broken, abolitionism would win a crucial victory. Angered by unyielding attitude of Sao Paulo politicians, abolitionists singled out province as key post slaveholders' perimeter of defense. As late as 1883, Rio News reported that in Sao Paulo, there is not only no enthusiasm, but there seems to be decided opposition to emancipation, and Jose do Patrocinio called Sao Paulo the strong fortress of heinous slavism.'l
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