Abolitionism Matters: The Politics of Antislavery in Pernambuco

This dissertation analyzes a principal feature of the slave emancipation process in Brazil---the abolitionist movement---through the lens of the northeastern province of Pernambuco. A case study of antislavery politics from 1869 to 1888, this work focuses primarily on the movement during the 1880s and examines its important role both with respect to abolition and with the mobilization of popular political participation. While the abolitionist movement represented the most significant source of social pressure within the Pernambucan context, from a national perspective, its tone and strategies, especially in the late 1880s, appeared comparatively more conservative. Based on an array of sources dealing with the formal and informal spheres of provincial politics, such as legislative debates, newspapers, and records of abolitionist societies, it becomes evident that popular agitation effected political change in Pernambuco. At different times over the 1880s, the movement impelled the provincial government into action. Some laws passed supported emancipationist efforts, while others obstructed abolitionist initiatives; both responses, nonetheless, testify to the movement's influence on the provincial politics. Through a combination of legal and "illegal" methods, ranging from the application of private emancipation funds to the operation of an "underground railroad," the abolitionist movement helped free some eight-thousand slaves during the 1880s. Accordingly, this dissertation places the movement at the center of the process of abolition, a perspective which expands upon the conventional historiographical view that economic factors precipitated the ending of slavery in Pernambuco. The public and wide-ranging activities of the movement also redefined the scope of political action in Pernambuco. Abolitionist societies politicized cultural and social spaces such as carnival, bazaars, and theater, changing the way ordinary people engaged in politics. In particular, the campaigns for the 'abolitionist' elections of 1884 and 1887 demonstrate how the traditional, elite-centered mode of politics contended with and feared the participation of the popular sectors, such that bans on public meetings and abolitionist theater were deemed necessary. These findings aim to contribute towards a better understanding of the implications of abolitionism, a key phenomenon within the histories of slavery and popular politics in late Imperial Brazil.