19th-Century Judicial Abolitionism, Afro-Uruguayan Soldiers, and Spanish Diarist José María Márquez

This presentation examines how judicial litigation about the freedom of formerly enslaved black soldiers in late 1820s Montevideo shaped the first arguments about the abolition of slavery in the newly created country of Uruguay. Spanish diarist José María Márquez, who occupied the position of “Public Attorney for the Poor and Slaves” in Montevideo, published in his newspaper stories about the black soldiers he defended. This news became the first public arena to discuss the complete abolition of slavery. The actions of former slaves then black soldiers and their negotiations to secure freedom provided strong arguments and nationalist bases for conceiving a plan for full abolition. Through the lens of these actions and the communication between the courts and the public arena, here we examine judicial actions as one of the sources of abolitionism in the newly formed Spanish American republics, instead of Anglo-centric and North Atlantic models of abolitionist societies and newspapers.