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“Naturals of This Republic:” Slave Law, Sovereignty, and the Legal Politics of Citizenship in the Río de la Plata Borderlands, 1845–1864

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2012

Joseph P. Younger
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Extract

In 1859, Cándido Xavier Azambuja appeared before officials in Salto, Uruguay demanding the return of an alleged fugitive slave, Pedro, pursuant to the terms of the 1851 Extradition Treaty between Brazil and Uruguay. According to Cándido's testimony, Pedro had fled from his brother Geronimo's estancia located near the Brazilian town of Bagé close to the Uruguayan border. Upon questioning, Cándido admitted that Pedro and Geronimo had been in the Estado Oriental briefly in 1851 in order to drive several herds of cattle back into Brazil, but argued that Pedro returned with his master and had never been to the Uruguayan Republic before or since. In response, Pedro argued that he was not a fugitive Brazilian slave, but rather a “natural of this republic.” Pedro claimed that he was born in Tacuarembó, Uruguay, and promptly produced the baptismal records to prove it. Pedro went on to note that his entire family consisted of free Uruguayans like himself. He then claimed that Cándido had repeatedly attempted “to make him a slave,” going so far as to remove him forcibly from his home and carry him across the border into Brazil. He requested protection from these continued threats to his and his family's basic rights under Uruguayan law.

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Law and History Review , Volume 30 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 1099 - 1132
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Copyright © the American Society for Legal History, Inc. 2012

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References

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2. Throughout the nineteenth century, Uruguay was commonly referred to as the Estado Oriental. I use the two terms interchangeably throughout this article.

3. Información relativa al negro Pedro, reclamando como esclavo, s/n (1859), 2bis–3bis.

4. Ibid.

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26. Ibid., 44–50.

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35. Información relativa al negro Pedro, reclamando como esclavo, 4bis–5. The original testimony is recorded by a scribe and therefore written in the third person.

36. Ibid., 4bis.

37. Borucki, Chagas, and Stalla, Esclavitud y trabajo, 74–97.

38. Información relativa al negro Pedro, reclamando como esclavo, 3bis.

39. Ibid., 4bis. As Rebecca Scott has noted, the baptism of a freeborn child represented “one of the strongest forms of proof of freedom.” Scott, “She . . . Refuses to Deliver Up,” 125.

40. For additional examples of these types of collective strategies to win freedom in connection with fugitive slaves, see Gebara, Ademir, O mercado de trabalho livre no Brasil, 1871–1888 (São Paulo, SP: Brasil, 1986), 129–30Google Scholar, Petiz, Buscando a liberdade.

41. Información relativa al negro Pedro, reclamando como esclavo, 4bis.

42. Jeremias José Nunes c. Doña Belmire Caetana Guterres e seus filhos, cujo autor sequem por appelação para a relação do distrito, Arquivo Público do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (hereafter APRGS). Civel e Crime. Ações Ordinarias. Alegrete. Maço 35, No. 843 (1854).

43. Jeremias José Nunes c. Doña Belmire Caetana Guterres e seus filhos. The litigation record for this proceeding does not contain page numbers.

44. Ministério das Relações Exteriores and Brazil and Brazilian Government Document Digitization Project, “Relatório da repartição dos negocios estrangeiros, Anexo “A”.” (Rio de Janeiro: Typ. Nacional, 1850), http://bibpurl.oclc.org/web/22175. Nunes’ land is listed as entry No. 406. November 10, 2012.

45. Ibid., No. 470.

46. Información relativa al negro Pedro, reclamando como esclavo, at 13bis–14.

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49. Ibid. The police investigation records for this case were not numbered.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid. Fermin's strategy of effectively seeking a new master was relatively common. Petiz, Buscando a liberdade; and Borucki, Chagas, and Stalla, Esclavitud y trabajo.

52. Fermin's freedom remained relative because he continued to be bound to Manuel Ferreira through a labor contract. However, Fermin and Manuel Ferreira now negotiated his service in a context in which Fermin was legally free, potentially offering the former slave a substantial chip to bargain for better conditions. Fermin had to stay in Uruguay to retain this power.

53. Petiz, Buscando a liberdade, 69.

54. Because of the number of “Ferreiras” involved in the intra–family dispute over Fermin's status, I will refer to the various family members by their first names from this point forwards.

55. Petiz, Buscando a liberdade, 69 (quoting AHRGS. Grupo Documental Estatística, maço 1, lata 531).

56. D. Agustin Sañudo c. D. José da Asunción Ferreira, Cobrando Especialmente 751 Patacones, Archivo General de la Nación—Secciones Judiciales (hereafter AGN-SJ). Letrados Civiles. Salto. No. 24 (1856).

57. José Pinto de Oliveira c. José d'Assumpção Ferreira, APRGS. Alegrete. Crimes. Maço 78, No. 2736 (1852).

58. José da Asumpção Pereyra, subdito Brasilero y apoderado general de su madre Dn. Bernadina Maria Pereyra.

59. Ibid.

60. Ibid.

61. Ibid.

62. Agustin Sañudo c. José Da Asunción Ferreyra, 30bis. The note in question originated from a commercial transaction between Luis Gonzaga Ferreira and Antonio José de Vargas in 1852 in connection with Canabarro's 1851 Uruguayan campaign against Oribe.

63. Testimonio del Testamento de D. Manuel Fereira Bica, AGN-SJ. Letrados Civiles. Salto. No. 11 (1876).

64. Don Agustin Sañudo c. Don José Da Asunción Ferreyra, Cobrando Especialmente 751 Patacones, 30bis–31.

65. Felizberta Benita de Mota por la causa de Joaquim Gonzaga Ferreira, AGN-SJ. Letrados Civiles. Salto. No. 25 (1858).

66. Leon Piris and Lucas Piris may be related. However, I have been unable to locate any archival evidence conclusively establishing this fact.

67. Felizberta Benita de Mota por la causa de Joaquim Gonzaga Ferreira.

68. Chirif also possessed connections to Venancio Flores. Flores wrote to Chirif in 1865, referring to him as his “esteemed friend” and thanking him for his help with the war effort. AGN. Jefatura de Salto. Venancio Flores al Señor Don J. Cherif (September 7, 1865).

69. AGN. Particulares. Archivo de General Lucas Piriz, Caja 9, Carpeta 5, Carta Confidencial de Lucas Piriz al Exmo. Sor. D. Gabriel Antonio Pereyra, No. 30 (August 8, 1856).

70. Felizberta Benita de Mota por la causa de Joaquim Gonzaga Ferreira, 5bis.

71. Ibid., 11.

72. Ibid., 13–14.

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74. Ibid., 14.

75. Benton, “The Laws of this Country,” 505–9; and Barrán, Apogeo y crisis, 81; and de Souza and Prado, “Las representaciones del Brasil.”

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77. Ibid.

78. de Souza and Prado, “Las representaciones del Brasil,” 173, n. 12. Although ostensibly a colorado, Lamas is a difficult figure to situate ideologically. Lamas seemed to chase power, supporting both Berro's blanco government and then later Venancio Flores’ colorado rebellion when his campaign against the Berro government gained strength in 1864.

79. Borucki, Chagas, and Stalla, Esclavitud y trabajo, 150.

80. Andrés Lamas, Carta del Legación Oriental del Uruguay en el Brasil (April 14, 1857), reprinted in “La nacionalidad de los hijos de los brasileños en la República,” Revista Histórica de la Universidad I:1 1907 202–12. Although Lamas did not make direct mention of the race of the soldiers in these particular letters, it was well understood by all parties that the practice at issue was the capture and enslavement (or impressment) of black soldiers in the borderlands. Ibid., 149–51, de Souza and Prado, "Las representaciones del Brasil,” 179.

81. Kittleson, Roger, “The Paraguayan War and Political Culture: Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 1865–1880,” in I Die with My Country: Perspectives on the Paraguayan War, 1864–1870, ed. Kraay, Hendrik and Whigham, Thomas L. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 111Google Scholar.

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83. Andrés Lamas, "La nacionalidad de los hijos de brasileños nascidos en la República,” Revista Histórica de la Universidad I (1907): 205.

84. de Souza and Prado, "Las representaciones del Brasil,” 177.

85. Lamas, “La nacionalidad de los hijos,” 207; and de Souza and Prado, “Las representaciones del Brasil,” 173–82.

86. Lamas, “La nacionalidad de los hijos,” 207.

87. Ibid. (emphasis in original).

88. Ibid.

89. Ibid.: 212.

90. Barrán, Apogeo y crisis, 80.

91. Borucki, Chagas, and Stalla, Esclavitud y trabajo, 138–47.

92. Ibid., 141–43.

93. Barrán, Apogeo y crisis, 88–96.

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95. Ibid.

96. De la Fuente, Children of Facundo.

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98. Graden, From Slavery to Freedom in Brazil: Bahia, 1835–1900, 53–82.

99. Conrad, Robert Edgar, The Destruction of Brazilian Slavery, 1850–1888 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972), 204–9Google Scholar.