Lei Áurea

The Lei Áurea (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈlej ˈawɾiɐ]; English: Golden Law), officially Law No. 3,353 of 13 May 1888, is the law that abolished slavery in Brazil. It was signed by Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil (1846–1921), an opponent of slavery, who acted as regent to Emperor Pedro II, who was in Europe.¹²

The Lei Áurea was preceded by the Rio Branco Law of 28 September 1871 ("the Law of Free Birth"), which freed all children born to slave parents, and by the Saraiva-Cotegipe Law (also known as "the Law of Sexagenarians"), of 28 September 1885, that freed slaves when they reached the age of 60. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery.¹

Background

For over three centuries, Brazil's national economy relied heavily on slave labor, and the Transatlantic slave trade had been deeply ingrained in the country.³ Of the 10 million African slaves which were forcibly brought to the New World, 40 percent were brought to Brazil³. By the mid-19th century, the slave population in Brazil was approximately 2-2.5 million, an increase from approximately 1 million enslaved individuals in 1822.⁴ This increase in the slave population was, in part, a result of increased production of coffee in the northeastern regions of Brazil.⁴

Domestic and international pressure to abolish Brazilian slavery began rising decades before the passing of the In 1825, a crucial figure in the Brazilian fight for independence, began advocating for gradual abolition. The continued import of African slaves into Brazil was made entirely illegal following the . The treaty promised British recognition of newly-independent Brazil in exchange for the criminalization of the Brazilian slave trade by 1830. The British Navy had also begun seizing slave ships in the Atlantic Ocean, and attacked a number of Brazilian ports. In response to British pressure, slave traders hurried to sell African slaves to Brazil before the ratification of the treaty. This resulted in a spike in the price of African slaves, and an increase in the slave ships travelling to Brazil. By the 1860's, slavery increasingly entered into the national political agenda. Emperor Pedro II came to the view that slavery could no longer be justified amidst increasing international isolation, and that its decline had to be gradual, so as to minimize economic shocks in a transition to free labor. Pedro II was also influenced by the , writing in 1864 that the future of slavery in Brazil must be questioned in fear of internal conflict.