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Comparing The Colombian And Brazilian Free Womb Law

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Free Womb Laws and Preservation of Slavery The Colombian and Brazilian Free Womb Laws were two legal initiatives aimed at ending slavery in Latin America. Essentially both laws would free the children of slaves, but not the mother. However, both laws contained provisions that allowed for the preservation of slavery. This paper will argue that free womb laws were manipulated to preserve slavery by comparing and contrasting the two laws. This paper will first explain the free womb law in Columbia. The Colombian Free Womb Law was a legal initiative aimed at ending slavery in Colombia. It declared that any child born to a slave mother would be considered free from birth. However, the law allowed owners to keep the children with their mothers until …show more content…

The Colombian Free Womb Law was enacted in 1821, while the Brazilian Free Womb Law was enacted in 1871. Both countries wouldn’t abolish slavery until a decade or more after these free womb laws were passed. One can already see how entrenched slavery was in Brazil when simply comparing those dates. It wasn’t until 50 years later after Columbia’s for Brazil to pass a free womb law. Both laws allowed owners to keep the children with their mothers until they reached a certain age. Columbia allowed owners to keep their slaves until they were 18, while in Brazil they were kept until they were 21. Each law allowed slave owners to profit from supposed “free” children for decades. The Columbian law allowed the slave to buy their freedom, unlike the Brazilian law. However, as is the nature of slavery, they did not get paid causing this provision to be practically useless. This provision also meant that owners could keep them in bondage until they had extracted enough value from their labor to justify the cost of purchasing their freedom. By doing so, owners could continue to profit from the labor of enslaved individuals while appearing to adhere to the law. The Brazilian law did allow for slave owners to be paid 600 dollars but paid over 30 years when a slave turned 8. However, would a slave owner take payment over 30 years instead of two decades of free labor? Most likely not. In conclusion, both the Colombian and Brazilian Free allowed for the preservation of

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