Os discursos políticos sobre os Estados Unidos da América e a Libéria no debate referente à escravidão no Brasil entre os anos de 1826-1888

Abstract

The following work aims to present an analysis of how the United States and Liberia, specifically, were used as a field of experience and horizon of expectation, discussed by the parliamentary elite within the annals of the senators, in the period from 1826 to 1888. This construction was based on the concepts of space of experience and horizon of expectation, mobilized by Reinhart Koselleck. The research seeks to understand how the Brazilian parliamentary elite used foreign experiences (from North America) to interpret the present and project possibilities for the fate of the institution of slavery in the country. The investigation is based on the analysis of the annals of the Senate of the Empire of Brazil, articulated with historiographies of authors such as Tâmis Parron, Rafael de Bivar Marquese, Beatriz Mamigonian and Dale W Tomich. The results indicate that the United States served as a central position in the discourses of the parliamentary elites, being initially presented as an ideal of nation, economic progress, civilization and social organization. However, after the advent of the Eusébio de Queirós Law and the American Civil War, the North American experience began to be interpreted differently, also being seen as a warning about the conflicts and tensions that could arise with the advancement of abolition in Brazil. Thus, Liberia emerges in the debates as an alternative related to a possible possibility for projects of return to Africa. In other words, while the United States acted as a space for experimentation, Liberia was constructed from a horizon of future expectations for the post-slavery period. It is concluded, therefore, that both references played a relevant role in the formulation of the horizons of expectations of the parliamentary elite in Brazil, strongly influencing the debates on slavery, nation-building, and emancipation throughout the 19th century, impacted by various events that contributed to this construction.