A liberdade requer limites: o fundo de emancipação e a liberdade na província de Alagoas (1871-1886)

Abstract

The law of 1871, in addition to defining freedom of the womb, established the creation of the Emancipation Fund and granted slaves the right to earn money. The project would be the first interference of the Government in the seigniorial authority, nevertheless, the progressive emancipation attended, especially, to the interest of the slavistas. From then on, the mechanisms of manumission would create several entanglements in the management of both the abolitionist program and the slave regime. And Alagoas was another province to experience the transformations of the law. Initially, in addition to enrollment, the Province relied on the process of private manumission, masters who, through conditional and unconditional liberties, started the project of emancipation in Alagoas. In the same period, we find slaves unable to emancipate. Subsequently, the same law would establish criteria for the classification of captives, and through the emancipation fund countless captives won freedom in the Province: children, adults, men and women who had their main characteristic in individuality. From this, we will seek to unveil the varied contexts perfected by slaves and masters in the slave- owning Alagoas years before the abolition.