In the Blood of Our Brothers: Abolitionism and the End of the Slave Trade in Spain's Atlantic Empire, 1800–1870 by Jesús Sanjurjo

Author:Jesús Sanjurjo [Sanjurjo, Jesús]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Latin America, South America, Social History, Social Science, Slavery
ISBN: 9780817321055
Google: 8mI9EAAAQBAJ
Amazon: 0817321055
Publisher: University Alabama Press
Published: 2021-10-25T18:30:00+00:00

A MATTER OF “NATIONAL DIGNITY”: ANTI–SLAVE TRADE POLICIES FROM WITHIN

In a recent publication, Josep Fradera wondered “what was the real significance of the Spanish abolitionism of the 1850s and 1860s after some decades of silence and conformity?”⁶⁹ Fradera argued that, for Granville Sharp and James Stephen in Britain, abolitionism represented “Christian purification”; in France, for Alexis de Tocqueville, it was “a possibility for simultaneous moral and political reform”; and for the Utilitarian School, it constituted “a formula for progress, . . . waged labour and free trade.”⁷⁰ Abolitionism was for Juan de la Pezuela (1853), José Gutierrez de la Concha (1854–1859), and Francisco Serrano y Domínguez (1859–1862), as captains general of Cuba, an opportunity to vindicate “national dignity” and Spaniards’ “honor.” They all shaped an anti–slave trade discourse that went beyond the traditional “necessary evil” stance and presented abolitionism as the right thing to do.⁷¹ The translation into political action of these discourses varied significantly: Pezuela implemented an abolitionist agenda in Cuba, while Concha and Serrano continued protecting and promoting the slave trade on the island. However, their position was a novelty, a divergence from the mainstream construction of abolitionist ideas in Spain’s empire. These discourses share important similarities with anti–slave trade expressions in Portugal and Brazil, where the alleged need “to salvage national honor” contributed to the development of a successful anti–slave trade narrative in the 1840s and 1850s.⁷²

The appointment of Pezuela as captain general of Cuba in 1853 responded, fundamentally, to the Spanish government’s decision to promote alternative forms of labor force that would gradually reduce the need for new enslaved Africans in a “slow and safe way,” as the Spanish government later put it.⁷³ As captain general of Puerto Rico between 1848 and 1851, Pezuela had been successful in dealing with slave owners’ and planters’ demands and avoiding the introduction of new enslaved Africans after the slave trade had been virtually eradicated in this colony from 1842.⁷⁴ Certainly, Cuba represented a much more challenging context, considering the structural importance that slavery and the slave trade had on the island. However, during his time as captain general of Cuba, Pezuela issued orders liberating all slaves illegally imported since 1835, allowed marriage between Black women and white men, authorized freedmen to serve in the colonial militia, and threatened anyone suspected of being involved in the slave trade with expulsion from the island.⁷⁵

By the time Pezuela was appointed captain general, the Spanish government, headed by Luis José Sartorius (1820–1871), Count of San Luis, was particularly concerned about the part that Joseph Crawford, the British consul in Havana, was playing in the colony. The Spanish cabinet believed that he had established himself as “an alternative authority to the Captain General with a navy at his service not smaller than ours.”⁷⁶ The appointment of Pezuela, and the fear among Cuban slave owners that he would implement an anti–slave trade agenda, had the effect of temporarily stimulating the slave trade and provoked the British consul to complain, once again and with much reason, that “the slave trade [in Cuba] flourishes.

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