London School of Economics and Political Science
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF LONDON BETWEEN SLAVERY AND FREE LABOUR: EXPERIMENTS WITH FREE LABOUR AND PATTERNS OF SLAVE EMANCIPATION IN BRAZIL AND CUBA c.1830-1888 by MARIA LUCIA LAMOUNIER THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 1993 ABSTRACT This thesis is divided in two main parts. The first part compares and contrasts early experiments with non-slave labour in Cuba and Sao Paulo. The second part considers projects for the gradual abolition of slavery and the transition to free labour. The objective is to examine how Cuban and Brazilian planters solved the problem of labour supply triggered by a rapid growth of plantation exports during the nineteenth century. At this time sugar and coffee plantations came to characterize economic development in the two areas. Continued expansion was threatened by international pressures to end the trans- Atlantic slave trade. Challenged by international demands to terminate the "African trade" Cuba and Brazil sought to solve the labour problem by means of immigration. From the mid-century until the end of slavery in the 1880s, planters would experiment with several labour systems, involving a variety of labour relations. Besides slaves, Europeans, Chinese, Mexican Indians, Canary Islanders, and free domestic workers (white and coloured) would be employed on the plantations. Substituting "free" labour for slave labour was not ,a' simply\Cmatter of labour supply. For Cuba there was the question of the relationship with Spain and its consequences for the defense of slavery and the impact on immigration. For Brazil there was the question of forging a national identity. What would be the place of slaves, freedmen and immigrants in the new nation. In both regions these considerations had a racial dimension. Also planters were anxious to secure a cheap disciplined workforce. What labour system would best meet these requirements? As this thesis demonstrates this was a time of experimentation. From the first, in Brazil alternative supplies of labour were regarded as a means of transition to free labour. In Cuba new supplies of workers were viewed as complementing slavery. But the first experiments with non-slave labour affected the processes of the abolition of slavery and the transition to free labour while the meaning of "free labour" and "transition" also changed over time. To my parents: Joaquim and Lourdes TABLE OF CONTENTS Page List of Maps i List of Tables i Acknowledgements ii Abbreviations iii INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: CUBA AND SAO PAULO: AN OVERVIEW 25 2.1. The Making of a Sugar Colony 25 2.2. The Making of a Coffee Province 45 PART I: EXPERIMENTING WITH FREE LABOUR Introduction 62 CHAPTER 3: CUBA 65 3.1. Early attempts to establish an immigration policy 65 3.2. In search of workers 73 3.2.1. Recruiting whites: Europeans 74 3.2.2. Recruiting non-whites: free Africans 84 3.2.3. Recruiting non-whites: Chinese, Yucatecans and the development of the trade in "free" workers 91 3.3. Legislation and control: contracts, conflicts and laws 109 Conclusion 131 CHAPTER 4: BRAZIL 134 4.1. Early attempts to establish an immigration policy 137 4.2. Sharecropping in Sao Paulo 149 4.3. Legislation and control: contracts, conflicts and laws 163 4.4. Brazilians under contracts and Chinese contract workers 183 4.4.1. Brazilians under contracts 183 4.4.2. Efforts to import Chinese contract workers 199 Conclusion 216 PART II: PATTERNS OF SLAVE EMANCIPATION AND TRANSITION TO FREE LABOUR Introduction 220 CHAPTER 5: EARLY PLANS OF EMANCIPATION: CHANGING CONCEPTS OF SLAVE EMANCIPATION AND FREE LABOUR 222 5.1. Cuba 223 5.2. Brazil 253 5.3. Conditional manumission: a route to freedom 270 Conclusion 286 CHAPTER 6: GRADUALISM AND TRANSITION: TRACING PARALLELS BETWEEN BRAZIL AND CUBA 288 6.1. Gradual abolition: Rio Branco law and Moret law 289 6.1.1. Rio Branco law 291 6.1.2. Moret law 307 6.2. Gradualism and transition 325 6.2.1. Cuba 326 6.2.2. Brazil 334 CONCLUSION 352 APPENDIX 357 BIBLIOGRAPHY 376 LIST OF MAPS Map 1: Cuba, provincial divisions of 1878 29i Map 2: Brazil in 1830 45i Map 3: The expansion of coffee production in sao Paulo 50i LIST OF TABLES T.1. Chinese Workers Said to Have Reached Brazil During the Nineteenth Century 199 T.2. Cuba, Manumission, 1858-1862 279 T.3. Brazil, Campinas, Conditions of Manumission 284 T.4. Types (% of Total) of Conditional Manumission 285 T.5. Sources of Decline in the Slave Population, 1870-1877. Government Estimates 323 Appendix 1. Agricultural Wealth Distributed by Departments, 1846. 2. Cuban Sugar Production, 1840-1894. 3. Sugar mills in Cuba, 1860. 4. Cuban Sugar Production, 1860 Harvest. 5. Slaves Imported into Cuba, 1840-1867. 6. Average Slave Nominal Prices, 1845-1879. 7. Cuban Population, 1817-1862. 8. Distribution of Slave Population by Place of Residence, 1862. 9. Cuban Population, 1861. 10. Chinese Contract Workers, 1848-1874. 11. Chinese Population, 1861-1877. 12. Cuban Slave Population, 1862-1877. 13. Coffee Export through the port of Rio de Janeiro, 1851-1872. 14. Sao Paulo Population, 1819-1886. 15. Coffee and Sugar Exports, 1850s. 16. Sao Paulo Exports, 1862-1867. 17. Price of Coffee in Rio de Janeiro, 1840-1872. 18. Coffee Export through port of Santos 19. Brazilian Sugar and Coffee Exports, 1821-1890. 20. Estimates of Africans disembarked in Brazil, 1820- 1855. 21. Brazil, Slave Population, 1864-1887. 22. Registered Gains of Slaves through Interprovincial Trade, 1874-1884. 23. Estimate Slave Population of Province of Sao Paulo, 1836-1887. 24. Immigration to Sao Paulo, 1882-1900. 25. World Coffee Production by Region, 1880-1891. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Special acknowledgement is due to Colin M. Lewis who gave unsparingly of his time in advising and counselling me through researching and writing. Many people were very kind and helpful with their comments on papers or portions of this thesis. I am very grateful to Mary Turner, Jeremy Aldeman, Gervase Clarence Smith, Verena Stolcke and Jean Stubbs. Cuban historians were very generous with their time and with references to sources. With much gratitude I recall the assistance of Leyda Oquendo, Fe Iglesias, Maria Carmen del Barcia and Tomas Fernandez Robaina. In Brazil, I wish to thank in particular Ana Lucia Duarte Lanna, Michael M. Hall, Ademir Gebara, Robert Slenes, Dea Fenelon and all members of the Department of Economics of the Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus Araraquara. Many other people who are too numerous to mention here helped me in many ways and I am grateful to them all. Robin Dilks, Thais Crist6faro Silva, Graga e Eduardo Silva, Oliver Marshall, Margareth Wilson, Gabriel Porcile , Elvira Felipe Ventura, Marina Cardoso, Fatima Lamounier and Stevea. Murray, and Jochen Graff deserve special thanks. Financial a ssistange ,fro the (Conselho Nacional de tg , t.,L.Q.AA■ co cx) ciolo.% a nC he n iev 3r idade Estadual Paulista made possible the research and the time necessary to complete the manuscript. The Central Research Fund of the University of London financed the research trip to Cuba. ii Abbreviations Used in the Notes Material Relating to Cuba AGI Archivo General de Indias, Seville AHN Archivo Historic° Nacional, Madrid Ultramar Seccion de Ultramar ANC Archivo Nacional de Cuba, Havana GSC Fondo Gobierno Superior Civil RCJF Fondo Real Consulado y Junta de Fomento ME Fondo Miscelanea de Expedientes CA Fondo Consejo de AdministraciOn leg. legajo (bundle) exp. expediente (file) Material Relating to Brazil AI Arquivo Historic° do Itamarati, Rio de Janeiro APB Anais do Parlamento Brasileiro APESP Arquivo Public() do Estado de Sao Paulo, sao Paulo BN Biblioteca Nacional, Rio de Janeiro Manuscritos Sega° Manuscritos IHGB Instituto HistOrico e Geografico Brasileiro, Rio de Janeiro iii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION In the nineteenth century Cuba and Sdo Paulo were transformed from relatively diversified agricultural economies into plantation economies. Sugar and coffee plantations came to characterize economic development in the two areas. Continued expansion based on this model was, however, threatened by international pressures to end the trans-Atlantic slave trade. With a relatively scarce population and vast stretches of vacant land, both regions depended on external supplies of labour and were now confronted by the problem of finding a way of replacing slave labour or at least supplementing it so as to sustain labour-intensive plantation production. As Cuba and Brazil became the last supporters of slavery in the New World, Cuban and Brazilian planters had to face two interrelated issues. How to find a new source of labour to replace slaves and how to end slavery and reorganize labour relations efficiently without disrupting production. As soon as pressures to cut the supply of African slaves began, Cuba and Brazil sought to solve their labour problems through a series of strategies. From the mid-century until the end of slavery in the 1880s, planters would experiment with several labour systems, involving a variety of labour relations. Besides slaves, Europeans, Chinese, Mexican Indians, Cayihary Islanders and free white and coloured domestic workers would be employed in sugar and coffee plantations. Political-ideological questions, such as the maintenance of colonial ties (for Cuba), the constitution of the nation and racism affected choices and attitudes regarding the options available. Costs, discipline and efficiency were also related concerns. At the beginning of the 1870s, Cuba and Brazil started a relatively successful process of gradual abolition of slavery, with 1 the approval of Free Birth laws in Spain in 1870 and in Brazil in 1871. Despite fears that the abolition of slavery would destroy the plantation system, in the event abolition did not seriously interrupt the near continuous growth in plantation production. Slavery was finally abolished in Cuba in 1886, and in Brazil in 1888.