Nabuco's role in the Abolitionist movement has been characterized in different ways, both in regard to his own political views and in regard to his significance in the process that led to slavery's end in 1888. Research suggests that both Nabuco's views and his significance changed within the contingent context of the historical path of the movement. One of the most critical conjunctures demonstrating this is the transformational year of 1885, upon which this article focuses. As will be shown, the Abolitionist campaign of public pressure, initiated by Nabuco and his allies that year, mobilized a movement in the streets and in the fields which, in turn, would reach back through press and parliament to reverse crown policy and compel a legal end to slavery.
Abolitionist movement; Joaquim Nabuco; parliamentary politics