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Manumissionin ColonialBuenosAires,
1776-1810
LYMAN L. JOHNSON
to continue providing their owners with some desired service even though sub-
stantial cash payments were made. In the following analysis, these cases have
been combined with the more typical self-purchase arrangementwhere the slave
or a member of his or her familymade a direct cash payment to the owner.
8. Schwartz notes a similar pattem in colonial Bahia in "Manumission of
Slaves in Colonial Brazil," p. 633.
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To 5 6 to 13 14 to 45 More than 45
Race N % N %0 N %0 N %0
Negro 38 31.7 39 36.4 512 53.3 84 68.9
Mulatto 82 68.3 68 63.6 448 46.7 38 31.1
Total 120 100 107 100 960 100 122 100
I have coded the slave as being freedby the decedent,not the heir. Although
manyof the slaves freedby womenhad been inheritedpreviously, none of the
manumissions notedhere were relatedto testamentaryrequirements.
Male Female
Form N % N
Gratis 175 20.9 85 18.0
Will 100 12.0 118 25.1
Purchased* 560 67.1 268 56.9
Total 835 100 471 100
-All manumissions orderedby the civil authorities
and relatedto the defense
ofthecityhavebeenremoved.
** Purchasedmanumission includesconditionalmallumissionwheresubstantial
additionalserviceor a paymentis involved.
ing, food, and oftenhousing. The small amiountof income that re-
mained afterthese expenditureswas the source utilized to purchase
freedom.The relationshipsin Table VII, therefore, representthe most
optimisticapproximationsof the number of workingdays necessary
to accumulatethe price of manumission.Realistically,a slave earning
fourreales per day would have to work for most of his or her adult
lifebeforeaccumulating200 pesos. As a resultonlythe mostdedicated
and resourcefulslaves were able to purchase theirliberty. Slave fam-
ilies, by pooling theirresources,were able to accelerate the process
of accumulationthusconstituting an essentialpart of the manumission
process. Few slaves other than the highest-paidartisanscould have
purchased theirfreedomwithoutthe supportof theirfamilies.
As was expected, the financial resources of slave families were
crucial assetsin the effortto gain freedomforchildren. Slave families
purchased the freedom of fifty-nine percent of all children under
fourteenyears freed in Buenos Aires duringthe period studied. For
adult slaves as well, the savings of husbands,wives or parents were
oftenessential aids to freedom. In almost all cases where the slave-
ownerrequired a cash paymentfor manumission,the notaryrecorded
the source of the money. Among adult freedmen,a majorityof both
men and women were personallyresponsiblefor the cash paymentin
cases of purchasedmanumissions.Nevertheless,it is importantto note
that even in this group,the most economicallyactive portionof the
slave population,thirty-five percentof the manumissions(283) were
purchased by the familiesof the freedmen.Adult males were just as
likelyto rely on theirfamiliesfor financial assistance as were adult
females. In fact, among older slaves, forty-six years of age or older,
21. The total slave populationfoundin the 1778 census is 5,125. For this
calculation,it is estimatedthatten percentof this totalwere not permanent, or
long-term residentsof the city. Facultad de Filosofiay Letras,Documentospara
la historiaargentina,vol. XI: Territorio padro'nde la ciudad de Bulenos
y poblacio'n,
Aires,1778 (Buenos Aires,1919), passim. The totalslave populationin 1810 was
9,369. Ten percentof thetotalwas removedto producethe estimatedpermanent
slave population.Garcia Belsunceet al., BuienosAires: Su gente.
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