![]() And whom would it aid? Those who had not voluntarily freed their slaves. The emancipation fund, financed by taxes, the only one applicable for this purpose, would have been less than sufficient. First, the country could have compensated only in an illusory fashion, since it would have to be provided by taxes that would have fallen on those who had no connection with the question. A number of scruples stood in my way, despite my pushing them away. Should I not have taken all this into account, and should I not have confronted with a clear conscience the alienated, whether small in number or rather the many that in fact there were? And the question of compensation? Despite never having stated my opinion on this idea prior to the proposal for it being made, I could not grant it as being either advisable or just. (What surprises me is that they did not flee much sooner.) The country was in agitation. Their slaves fled, and there was no means of preventing that. Besides, they ought to have made preparations or rather they never did prepare. However, the evil was done, and it could not help but be eradicated. What if they had paid wages from the start?! It is true that if they had, they would have had resources they could have disposed of, and thus done some would not have collapsed so helplessly. The owners had profited too long from this imposition. How did the abolitionist viewpoint gain ground so quickly in me? The concept, already innate within me, was intrinsically humanitarian, moral, generous, great, and supported by the Church. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.Įxplaining her decision several months later, Isabel emphasized the humanist principles justifying slavery’s abolition and tackled the question of compensating former slave owners for their loss. This celebration can be seen as the height of the monarchy’s popularity, less than a year before its dissolution. Isabel and her husband are under a canopy to the left. However, in order to push through the “Golden Law” completely abolishing slavery, she had to appoint a completely new cabinet, the men in power when she began her second regency being unwilling to engage in any discussion of policy with a woman.Īn open mass on commemorated the abolition of slavery. Isabel served as regent twice during her father’s reign, making steps to abolish slavery both times. By the 1870s, Pedro II had only one surviving child ? the princess Isabel, who had difficulty gaining legitimacy not only because of her gender, but because she was married to a foreigner, a French nobleman. Part of the delay in declaring the total abolition of slavery came from within the royal family. Since the end of the slave trade in 1850, the slave population had declined, and a series of moderate steps limiting slavery ? the 1871 Law of the Free Womb, which declared all slaves born thereafter to be free when they came of age the 1885 Sexagenarian Law, which freed all slaves over 60 years old ? laid the groundwork for total abolition. By the 1880s, although slaveholders insisted their industry could not survive without forced labor, slavery was clearly on its way out. ![]()
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