Eusébio de Queirós Law: what determined, context

THE Eusébio de Queirós Law it was approved on September 4, 1850, being proposed by Eusébio de Queirós, Minister of Justice. It determined the prohibition of the trafficking of enslaved Africans to Brazil and was a response to pressure from England for Brazil to end this practice.

readalso: The role of the abolitionist movement for the abolition of slavery

Context

The Eusébio de Queirós Law was the result of the British campaign for Brazil to definitively end the slave trade, a commercial activity that existed since the 16th century and was responsible for bring nearly five million enslaved Africans to Brazil. our country was what most Africans received enslaved throughout the world.

Brazilian stamp showing the routes that slave ships took to bring enslaved Africans to Brazil.[1]

In the 19th century, this activity was in its last moments, although the resistance by the end of the slave trade was very large due to the great dependency of slave labor. England's involvement in this issue dates back to the period when Brazil was a Portuguese colony.

With the independence of Brazil, the British made their support and recognition of our independence conditional on Brazil's commitment to abolishing the slave trade. England recognized our independence in 1825 and demanded that the trade be abolished until 1830, which was accepted by Brazil.

This agreement made the two governments maintain frequent contacts on this issue. Brazil made its commitment official when it was approved, on November 7, 1831, the Bean Law, which decreed the prohibition of the slave trade definitively, but was never effectively implemented and became known as "law for english to see”.

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British pressure and the commitment of the Brazilian government to end trafficking had caused the number of Africans brought to Brazil annually jumped from an average of 40,000 to 60,000 in the second half of the decade of 1820|1|. This demonstrated thatthere was no interest in society by the end of this activity in the country and this disinterest remained after 1831.

Ruins of Valongo, a wharf in Rio de Janeiro that received enslaved Africans. This pier was deactivated in 1831 after the Feijó Law.[2]

The Feijó Law stated that all Africans brought to Brazil after 1831 would be considered free and traffickers would be punished by law. Subsequently, the decree of April 12, 1832 regulated the execution of the law here in Brazil, according to historians Beatriz Gallotti Mamigonian and Keila Grinberg|2|.

This law was openlyignored, and the slave trade continued extremely active in Brazil. There was some action of the law against trafficking between 1831 and 1832, but from 1833 onwards, the activity gained strength and continued to be quite active until 1845. During this period, there was even political movement for the Feijó Law to be revoked. In addition, the government ignored the tumbeiros (slave ships) that arrived in Brazil loaded with Africans.

Numbers don't lie. The period from 1831 to 1845 was one of the most active for the slave trade in the country. Traffickers and slave traders knew that the activity had its days numbered, and the demand for Africans increased considerably, especially in the Southeast, which saw the coffee farms expand. It is estimated that in this period about 470 thousand Africans have been brought to Brazil|3|.

Accessalso: How was the life of ex-slaves after the Golden Law?

Bill Aberdeen

The empire's negligence in complying with the Feijó Law displeased the British, who throughout the 1830s sought a compromise from Brazil through diplomatic channels. As the slave trade continued intense here, the British decided to act more energetically.

Between 1831 and 1845, nearly 500,000 Africans were brought to Brazil by the slave trade.

The UK Foreign Secretary, lordAberdeen, got the passage of a law that allowed the British navy to imprison ships that smuggled Africans across the Atlantic Ocean. The law also gave authorization to invade Brazil's territorial waters and imprison the tumbeiros, in addition to allowing the crew of the tumbeiros to be tried for acts of piracy in courts English.

This law, known as Bill Aberdeen, enraged politicians and supporters of slavery in Brazil. There were those who even defended a declaration of war against the United Kingdom as a way of “defending Brazilian sovereignty”.

There was also an attack against an English vessel off the Brazilian coast, followed by an English attack against slave ships as a reprisal. This hostility, however, was harmful to Brazil, as the Brazilian “cause” had no international support and a war against the British would be terrible for the country.

Thus, it was up to Brazil to accept the impossibility of taking a stand against the British. Fearing for the sovereignty of the country and a war against the British, the political climate changed and the prohibition of the slave trade came to be seen as a necessity.

Accessalso: Discover the abolitionist laws passed between 1850 and 1888

Eusébio de Queirós Law

With the political climate favorable to the end of the slave trade, the Minister of Justice, Eusébio de Queirós Coutinho Matoso Câmara, decided to propose a bill that would debate the issue. This law was intended to guarantee the prohibition of the slave trade while guaranteeing that slaves who were brought into the country between 1831 and 1845 were kept as slaves.

The Minister of Justice, Eusébio de Queirós, was the proponent of the law that approved the abolition of the slave trade in 1850.[3]

It is worth mentioning that Eusébio de Queirós was a problematic figure, since, as chief of police, a position that occupied between 1833 and 1844, he was known for neglecting the slave ships that disembarked in Rio de January.

In any case, the prohibition of the slave trade proposed by him advanced and was transformed into Law No. 581, of September 4, 1850. This law became known as Eusébio de Queirós Law and determined the definitive ban on the trafficking of enslaved Africans in Brazil. Slavery, however, remained active, and the trafficinterprovincial intensified.

After the approval of the Eusébio de Queirós Law, a system of repression of the slave trade was put into operation, the which made the sport cease to exist from 1856, the year in which the last landing was registered. clandestine. A reinforcement to Eusébio de Queirós took place in 1854, when the Nabuco de Araújo Law, which punished those who covered up the slave trade.

Still, it is estimated that, between 1850 and 1856, around 38 thousand Africans have entered Brazil illegally|4|. Despite the setback with the end of the trade, the slave and landowner elite acted to guarantee their interests. Two weeks after the slave trade was banned, theLand Law, which created obstacles for immigrants to obtain land in Brazil. The initiative was intended to force them to work for the big farmers.

Grades

|1| MAMIGONIAN, Beatriz Gallotti and GRINBERG, Keila. Law of 1831. In.: SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and GOMES, Flávio (eds.). Dictionary of slavery and freedom. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2018, p. 286.

|2| Idem, p. 287.

|3| ARAÚJO, Carlos Eduardo Moreira. End of trafficking. In.: SCHWARCZ, Lilia Moritz and GOMES, Flávio (eds.). Dictionary of slavery and freedom. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2018, p. 232.

|4| Idem, p. 236.

Image credits

[1] rook76 and Shutterstock

[2] Luiz Souza and Shutterstock

[3] commons