Transnational Influences and Cultural Transfers in the Formation of Spanish Anti-Slavery Discourses, 1802–34: The Anglophilia of Agustín De Argüelles

This paper aims to reconstruct the historical shaping the Spanish abolitionist discourse, assessing the more than likely British influence in its construction through the analysis of the political and intellectual activity carried out by Spanish liberal politicians between 1802 and 1834. One of the most prominent figures in this process was Agustín de Argüelles, whose leading role in the elaboration of the anti-slavery discourse in Spain and his recognition as an anti-slavery activist have not been studied yet.

The pre-eminence of slavery in Spain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries did not lead to the creation of a current of opinion in opposition to slavery. It was rather in France and England where voices against slavery were heard for the first time. Prior to 1811 opinions against slavery and slave trade were very scarce in Spain. While in 1807 the British Parliament voted to abolish slave trafficking, in Spain the slavery issue was ignored until the call of the Cortes of Cadiz in 1810, where representatives José Guridi Alcocer and Agustín de Argüelles, on April 2, 1812 defended two proposals. Guridi advocated for abolishing slave traffic and Argüelles to ban slavery altogether. Both proposals were defeated in Parliament mainly due to the pressure exercised by the Cuban oligarchy and for a fear to open a new front of conflict with the most important colony still loyal to the metropolis.

The failure of the first (1810-14) and second (1820-1823) Spanish experiments of constitutional rule and the subsequent absolutist repression campaigns, forced the most prominent liberals, including Agustín de Argüelles, into exile. It is therefore in exile that we must look to determine if anti-slavery opinion continued to exist or not.