Introduction

In 1850, Pedro II was in the tenth year of his rule over the Brazilian Empire, a rule that would extend up to November 1889, comprising the Second Reign (1840–89). (The First Reign, under his father, Pedro I, lasted from Independence, in 1822, until his abdication in 1831. In between the two Reigns was the Regency period [1831–40].) In a way, 1850 marked the beginning of a golden age in the political and economic history of the Empire. On the political front, the last of the major provincial revolts (the Praieira) had been quelled and centralization of power at the hands of the monarch in Rio was firmly established. As for the economy, 1850 saw the promulgation of three pieces of legislation that sought to regulate the markets for the major inputs in the production process. As a result, trade in capital (with the Commercial Code), labor (via the Euzébio de Queiróz Law, marking Brazil’s definitive acceptance of an end to the importation of slaves from Africa), and land (by means of the Land Law) would be henceforth regulated by the state. In a sense, this could be considered Brazil’s first experiment in building an institutional framework adapted to the capitalist system starting to take root in many parts of the globe at the time, even though the Empire itself remained firmly committed to (and dependent on) a non-capitalist form of labor—slavery (Bethell and Carvalho, 1822–50. In Brazil: Empire and Republic, 1822–1930, ed. Leslie Bethell, 41–112. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).