Ambivalent Authorities: The African and Afro-Brazilian Contribution to Local Governance in

Colonial Brazil
Author(s): A. J. R. Russell-Wood
Source: The Americas, Vol. 57, No. 1 (Jul., 2000), pp. 13-36
Published by: Academy of American Franciscan History
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The Americas
57:1 July 2000, 13-36
Copyrightby the Academy of American
FranciscanHistory

AMBIVALENTAUTHORITIES:THE AFRICANAND
AFRO-BRAZILIANCONTRIBUTIONTO LOCAL
GOVERNANCEIN COLONIALBRAZIL*

Athemecommonto all regionsof the Portugueseseaborneempire

was dependency on non-Europeansfor the creation, consolidation
and survivalof empire:for defense, labor,constructionof towns and
forts, transportation,productionof raw materials,sexual gratificationand, in
the case of the Estado da India (Portugueseforts, towns, cities and factories
from the Swahili coast to JapanandTimor),on merchants,brokersand inter-
preters to provide access to suppliers, distributors,commercial networks,
and even vessels and capital.' Throughconversion, peoples from Japanto
Africa and America, contributedto the flock of the churchmilitant and, in
some more limited cases, as missionaries, catechists, and secular priests.
One exception was Brazil where Amerindianswere not admittedinto the
regularor secular clergy.2The one area in which the Portuguesecrown was
not willing to countenance indigenous participationwas appointmentto
public office, be this in the imperialbureaucracy,or election to city or town
councils other than in Cape Verdeand SaioTome. In Asia and Angola per-
sons other than of exclusively Europeanparentageon both sides and even
New Christiansmay have served on town councils, and some non-Euro-
peans held clerical positions, but the policy forbiddingpersons of African

*A preliminaryversion of this paper was presentedto an internationalcolloquium "Brazil:Colo-

nization and Slavery"held in Lisbon in November, 1996.
The following archivalabbreviationshave been used. AMB, ArquivoMunicipal,Salvador;APBOR,
Arquivo Piiblico do Estado da Bahia, Livros de OrdensR6gias;APMCMOP,Arquivo PtiblicoMineiro,
Registros da CamaraMunicipalde Ouro Pr8to;APMSG, Arquivo Ptiblico Mineiro, Secretariado Gov-
erno; SPBM, Biblioteca Municipal,Sdo Paulo.
I G. V. Scammell, "IndigenousAssistance in the Establishmentof PortuguesePower in Asia in the
Sixteenth Century,"ModernAsian Studies, 14:1(1980), pp. 1-11; and "IndigenousAssistance and the
Survivalof the Estado da India,c. 1600-1700," Studia, 49 (1989), pp. 95-114; M. N. Pearson,"Brokers
in WesternIndianPort Cities. Their Role in Servicing ForeignMerchants,"ModernAsian Studies, 22:3
(1988), pp. 455-472.
2 C. R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 (London:Hutchinson,1969),
pp. 250-
260; and The ChurchMilitantand IberianExpansion, 1440-1770 (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University
Press, 1978), pp. 2-14 and 23-30; and Race Relations in the Portuguese Colonial Empire, 1415-1825
(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1963), pp. 33-34, 56-7 and 65-69.

13

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14 AMBIVALENT AUTHORITIES

descent to hold office in churchor state was adheredto in practice.3Brazil

was unique in at least two regards. First, perhaps in no other European
colony was dispossession (from an indigenous perspective) so complete.
The Portugueseassumed sovereigntyover indigenouspeoples and theirter-
ritories and saw Brazil as a tabula rasa where the Portuguesewere free to
establish cities, institutions, governance, commercial practices, and to
implant their religious beliefs, writing and numeracysystems, values, and
mores. Secondly, among Europeanoverseas colonies in the early modem
period, Brazil was unique in thatby the end of the colonial period (1822), a
transplantedpopulation of African-bornand their American-borndescen-
dants comprised a demographicmajority which exceeded the indigenous
populationand persons of Europeanorigin or descent.4
My purpose is to engage in an exercise in compensatoryhistory in two
regards:first, by focussing on a largely ignored facet of the African and
Afro-Brazilianpresence in the colony: namely, participationby persons of
African descent in governanceat local and districtlevels; and, secondly, by
placing local and regional governance-rather than metropolitanand impe-
rial-center stage. Where appropriate,the distinctionwill be made between
African-born(hereafterAfricans)and Brazilian-born(hereafterAfro-Brazil-
ians or creoles). To be African was tacit acknowledgmentof having been
transportedto Brazil as a slave. He or she might then receive a "letterof
freedom" (carta de alforria), as too could an Afro-Brazilianslave. Both
were free and, in legal terms, had the same standingas blacks and mulattos
born as free persons in Brazil. In short, there were slaves, freed and those
born free. To be African-bornor Brazilian-bornwas yet anotherfactor-in
additionto ethnicity (nagdo), civil status,coloration,and language-which
weighed against a shared identity among persons of African descent in
Brazil.5By the eighteenthcentury,Brazilian-bornfree persons compriseda
significant sector of the Brazilian population.Nowhere was there a more
concentratedpresence of African- and Brazilian-bornslaves than in what
was to become (1721) the captaincyof Minas Gerais.A high rate of manu-
missions, coupled with a free creole population,made this a region with a

3 Boxer, Race Relations, pp. 31-2 and 70-75; and Portuguese Society in the Tropics.The Municipal
Councils of Goa, Macao, Bahia, and Luanda, 1510-1810 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press,
1965), pp. 29-31,34, 35, 66-68, 77, and 135-36.
4 Dauril Alden, "Late Colonial Brazil, 1750-1808," CambridgeHistory of Latin America (Cam-
bridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 1984-95), Vol. 2, pp. 607-9.
5 A. J. R. Russell-Wood, The Black Man in Slavery and Freedom in Colonial Brazil (London:
MacmillanCompany, 1982), pp. 23, 81-2, 133, and 137-40. See also Jodo Jos6 Reis, Slave Rebellion in
Brazil. The Muslim Uprising of 1835 in Bahia (Baltimore:Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993), pp.
141-146.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 15

high incidence of persons of African descent who were free persons.6This

demography,togetherwith a rich municipal,gubernatorial,and crown doc-
umentation, make this an especially attractive area to study persons of
African descent in public office. While Africans can not be ruled out as
holdersof public offices describedhere, the realityis thatpersonsof African
descent who held local and districtoffices or who were officers and soldiers
in black and mulatto militia regiments were overwhelminglyAfro-Brazil-
ians. As holders of public offices at local or districtlevels, they were more
likely to be mulattos(mulatos,pardos) than blacks (pretos, negros). Cabra,
a term to describe persons whose color lay between black and mulatto,
rarelyappearsin association with such appointments.7
Participationby Africans and Afro-Braziliansin governanceat local and
districtlevels will be examinedundertwo headings.The first is the degreeto
which responsibilityfor maintainingwhat an eighteenth-centurygovernor
referredto as "a boa ordemna Reptublica" (literally:"goodorderin the repub-
lic") was charged to free persons of African birthor descent.8Secondly, this
essay will underlinehow significantwas theiracceptanceof this charge,and
how positive was theircontributionto the administrationof justice, upholding
law andorder,andkeepingthe peace. Delegationof this responsibilityto, and
acceptanceby, personsof Africandescentalso providesa differentperspective
on a perennialchallenge to historiansof colonial Brazil:how to arriveat an
understandingof what comprisedsocial standingwhen contemporaryterms
were themselves ill-defined or defied definition. Three terms in common
usage were qualidade (literally: 'quality'), condigdo (literally: 'condition')
and estado (literally:'state'), used alone, interchangeably,or in conjunction
with each otherto describethe social standing,the perceptionof social stand-
ing, or reputation(fama) of a person.A myriadof factors or perceptions-
including color, wealth, place of birth, legal status (free, slave), ethnicity
(nagdo), civil status (married,single, separated,widowed), religious ortho-
doxy (in this case, Catholicism),occupation,and degree of being creolized
(knowledgeof Portugueseand Portugueseways)--contributedto the assess-

6 Iraci del Nero da Costa,

Populag&esMineiras (Sdo Paulo: Instituto de Pesquisas Econbmicas,
1981); Russell-Wood,The Black Man in Slavery and Freedom,pp. 110-11 and sources.
7 On terminologysee ThomasM. Stephens,Dictionaryof LatinAmericanRacial and Ethnic Termi-
nology (Gainesville: University of FloridaPress, 1989), especially pp. 253-367; George Reid Andrews,
Blacks and Whitesin Sdo Paulo, Brazil, 1888-1988 (Madison:Universityof Wisconsin Press, 1991), pp.
249-258; HendrikKraay,ed., Afro-BrazilianCultureand Politics. Bahia, 1790s to 1990s (Armonk:M.E.
Sharpe, 1998), pp. 17-18 and 32-3. Also Carl N. Degler, Neither Black nor White:Slavery and Race
Relations in Brazil and the United States (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1971), especially
pp.101-104.
8 Bando issued by Dom Pedro de Almeida, governorof the capitaniaof Sao Paulo e Minas Gerais,
21 November 1719 (APMSG, vol. 11, fols. 282v-284r).

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16 AMBIVALENT
AUTHORITIES

ment of the standingof a personof Africandescentin Brazil.Also factoredin

werepersonalqualities.Any suchassessmentwas subjective,andcould reflect
the race, color, place of origin, and social standingof the personmakingthe
assessment.This essay will discuss social standingin the contextof functions
andattributes.Finally,althoughsome few Afro-Brazilianswere grantedhabits
in the militaryordersof Christand Santiago,so entrenchedwere metropolitan
attitudesand those of white colonists that the contributionsof persons of
African descent in defense of the colony and in maintaininglaw and order
went largely unrecognizedand unrewarded.9 It is in the context of denial by
white colonists and crown agents on the one hand,and of pragmatismon the
other,thatdelegationof such responsibilitiesrepresentedambivalenceon the
partof white metropolitanand colonial officials. No less ambivalentwas the
positionof personsof Africanbirthor descentto whom this authoritywas del-
egated. Discussion of the context and circumstanceswherebyAfricans and
Afro-Brazilianscame to participatein governance may contributeto our
understandingof structuraland functional dimensions inherentto colonial
society, the role of perceptionin bestowal of status,regionaland chronologi-
cal variants,and change in responseto varyingconditionsor other stimuli,in
shortthe social pathologyof the colony.
This sharingof responsibilitywith personsof Africandescent was all the
more remarkablegiven official obsession with the notion of the public weal
(respublica),high expectationsof publicservants'integrity,andpervasivedis-
criminationagainstpersonstaintedby the stigmaof slavery.Phrasessuchas "of
base birth"and "of inferiorstanding("de vil nascimento";"de baixo nasci-
mento";"de inferiorcondiio") referredto the position allocatedto Africans
and Afro-Braziliansin a society of estates, consciousnessof which was-if
anything-exacerbatedin the Portugueseoverseasempire.Such characteriza-
tions were also appliedin Brazilto some Portuguese-born and Brazilian-born
white persons.'"But the harshestwords of opprobriumwere reservedfor per-
sons of Africandescent.For Brazil, it is easy to compile from official corre-
spondencea litany of negativecharacterizations of free blacks and especially
of free mulattosas "internalenemies"and "epitomeof effrontery."Viceroys,
governors,municipalcouncilors,missionariesand bishops,and white settlers

9 Jose Ant6nio Gonqalvesde Mello, HenriqueDias. Governadordos pretos, crioulos, e mulattosno

Estado do Brasil (Recife, 1954); FrancisA. Dutra, "A HardFought Struggle.Manuel
GonqalvesDoria,
FirstAfro-Brazilianto Become a Knight of Santiago,"TheAmericas, 56:1 (July 1999), 91-113.
10 The following sampling is from gubernatorialcorrespondencefor
early eighteenth-centuryMinas
Gerais: "todos os mais de inferiorcondigqo dahy pa baixo" (APMSG, vol. 4, fol. 10r-v); "grossariada
sua capacidee vileza da sua criaqame nascimento"(APMSG, vol. 21, fols. lr-12r); "aondea majorpte
1
dos moradoresdellas sdo de baixo nascimto" (APMSG, vol. 23, ff.
llOv-lllr; vol. 32, ff. 97r-99r);
"homensde tio pouco ser e vil nascimto"(APMSG, vol. 5, ff. 128r-129v.).

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 17

harpedon how disruptiveto the stabilityof the colony,how offensiveto public

morality,andhow contraryto effectivegovernancewas disorderlyconduct(by
which they understoodsexuality,music and danceespecially)by Africansand
Afro-Braziliansand especially by slaves. They raised the specterof dangers
posed by runawayslaves andthe potentialfor revolt.The expression"enemies
of the nation"and"internalenemies"embracedrunawayslaves, free mulattos,
mamelucosandAmerindians.Derogatoryexpressionsalleged moraldegener-
acy." In such blanketcondemnations,distinctionsbetweenAfrican-bornand
Brazilian-born,andbetweenthose bornfree and slaves who hadbeen granted,
earned, or bought their freedom, were often lost. Some characterizations
referredspecifically to alleged disrespectfor the law by persons of African
descent.Dom Pedrode Almeidacited economic disadvantages,to justify sus-
pension (1719) of grantingmanumissionto slaves in Minas Geraispendinga
royal order,but observedthat the greatestdangerwas that the resultinglarge
populationof freeblacks(negrosforros)wouldnot be in the publicinterest.His
successoralso was derogatoryaboutmulattosandtheir"lackof obediencefor
YourMajesty'slaws."l2Neitherfearwas realized:free blacksneverconstituted
a demographicmajorityin colonial Brazil, nor were they or mulattosso dis-
ruptiveas to constitutea threatto the survivalof the colony. Here, governors
were makingpublic utterancesconsonantwith currentcrown policy thatper-
sons of Africandescentwere ineligibleto hold office in churchor state"within
the four degrees in which mulattismconstitutesan impediment.""3 As had
occurredin West and CentralAfrica and adjacentislands,personsof African
descent-but most likely Brazilian-bornblacks and mulattos-were ordained
as priestsin Brazilbut did not hold high office in the secularchurch.The norm
for religiousand militaryorders,thirdorders,and white lay brotherhoods,was
to refuseadmissionto anyoneof Africanbirthor descent.'4

11"inimigos da naqdo; "simbolos dos desaforos" (APMCMOP vol. 65,fols. 273v-6v); "inimigos
internos"was coined by acting governorof Minas Gerais,Martinhode Mendonqade Pina e de
Proenqa
in a letter to the king, 18 December 1736 (APMSG vol. 44, ff. 129-132v). Cf. Luis dos Santos Vilhena,
Recopilagdo de noticias soteropolitanas e brasilicas, 2 vols (Salvador: ImprensaOficial do Estado,
1922), vol. 1. pp. 46,135-6, and 139-40; Conde da Ponte (16 July 1807) in Accioli-Amaral,Mem6rias
Hist6ricas e Politicas, Vol. 3 (Salvador:ImprensaOficial do Estado, 1931), pp. 228-30; Maria Tucci
Carneiro,Preconceito Racial: Portugal e Brasil-Coldnia,2nd. ed. (Sao Paulo: Brasiliense, 1988).
12 "maso mayorinconvenientede todos q' he povoarseeste pais de negros forros como brutosnio
q'
conservaoa boa orde na Republica... ." Bando of 21 November 1719 (APMSG, vol. 11, ff. 282v-284r).
Referringto mulattosin Minas, governorLourenqode Almeida wrote to the king "mostraa experiencia
que a riquezanesta gente ihe faz cometer toda a torpezade insultos, sendo o primeirosempre a falta de
obba as Leys de VMagde."20 April 1722 (APMSG, vol. 23, ff.
11lOv-lllr).
13 "mullatodentronos quatrograos em q' o mullatismo
h6 impedimento,"APMSG, vol. 29, doc. 17.
C.R. Boxer, Portuguese Society in the Tropics,p. 77, note 9; Russell-Wood,Black Man in Slavery and
Freedom,pp. 69-71, and note 17 on irregularitiesin eligibility for elected office.
14 On integrationand segregationin militia, see Russell-Wood,Black Man in Slavery and Freedom,
pp. 87-89. On religious ordersandbrotherhoods,see Boxer, Race Relations,pp. 118-119;AMB, vol. 176,

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18 AMBIVALENTAUTHORITIES

Notwithstandingcrownpolicy, statementsby representativesof the crown,

exclusionary practises by white lay brotherhoods,and an atmospherein
which white settlers made derogatoryremarks about Africans and Afro-
Brazilians,whose content and tone are remarkablyconsistent for the eigh-
teenthcentury,thereis documentationon individualsof Africandescent who
held publicoffice and whose service was in the public interestand as uphold-
ers of the law. This was predominantlyin the context of one or more of three
preconditions:in regions which had been untouched by, or were on the
peripheryof territoriespeopled duringthe first wave of settlementin the six-
teenth and early seventeenthcenturies;in areas so remote from administra-
tive centers, that they were beyond the bounds of effective crown govern-
ment; that the offices were local, minor or of low status. In such
circumstances,therewas the high likelihoodthatwhite settlerswere in short
supply and that,even if they were to be present,they would be unsuitableor
unwilling to hold low status public office. In such conditions, crown and
municipalauthoritiesmight turnto non-whitesof recognized ability to hold
public office.
Such conditions prevailed in many parts of the captaincy of Sao Paulo
and Minas Gerais (1710-21) before the split (1721) into two independent
captaincies, and even afterwards.But neitherthe office, nor the institution,
nor the locations met some of the criterialisted above for office-holding by
persons of African descent. In Minas Gerais, authorization(as of 1711) for
encampmentsto be accorded the status of towns (vila) was crown policy.
The creationof municipalcouncils (Senados da Cdmara)presidedover by
"ordinaryjudges" (juizes ordindrios)was centralto civilian administration.
To judge by official reactionwhich reachedto the royal court in Lisbon, far
from being isolated incidents, persons of African descent held the elected
offices of "ordinaryjudges," andpresumablyof councilmen(vereadores)on
municipal councils in sufficient numbersto lead Dom Joao V (27 January
1726) to rule thatno longer was it seemly for mulattos,"personsnotoriously
defective and stained,"to hold such elected posts. Juizes ordindriosexer-
cised limitedjurisdictionin civil cases and minorcriminalcases and consti-
tutedcourtsof appealin the first instancefrom rulingsof local public health
and market inspectors (almotacds). Invariably lacking legal training and
sometimes illiterate,juizes ordindrioshad extensive administrativerespon-
sibilities, includingmaintainingof law and order,and could be highly influ-
ential at the local level. The king was concernedthat such a personcould, in
his capacity as seniorjuiz ordindrio,and in the absence, incapacity,or death

fols. 178v-179v; Russell-Wood,"Prestige,Power and Piety in Colonial Brazil:The ThirdOrdersof Sal-

vador,"Hispanic AmericanHistorical Review, 69:1 (1989), esp. pp. 66-70.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 19

of the crown appointedcircuit judge (ouvidor) serve as ouvidor in accor-

dance with royal orders.'
Was the royal ruling obeyed? The evidence is inconclusive, and provides
no indicationof how rareor common it was for persons of African descent
to serve as juizes ordindrios.In 1732, harshlycritical of a pretentiouspeti-
tion (24 July 1731) by the councilors of Vila Rica for the elevation of their
town to the status of city and for extension to them of the same privileges
enjoyed by their counterpartsin Sdo Paulo and Rio de Janeiro,the Count of
Galveas (governor of Minas Gerais, 1732-35) wrote to the king that the
request was couched in totally inappropriatelanguage and that the present
incumbents were "base men" (homens vis) and "of low social standing"
(baixa esfera). Significantly, the draft containing these phrases was never
dispatched.The version sent to the king referredto the councilors as resort-
ing "to any legal or illegal expedientto obtainthese offices."''6The choice of
language gives no indicationto whetherthe governorin the draftwas refer-
ring to the lowly birth,occupation,or race of the councilmen.It is worthyof
note that vileness, associated with circumstanceof birth, had been elimi-
nated and replacedby a referenceto ruthlessand over-weaningambitionfor
public office as the reasonwhy the governorreportednegatively on the peti-
tion. Pending furtherresearch,the door is open on the possibility that not
only in Minas GeraisAfro-Braziliansdid occupy the importantoffice of juiz
ordindrio,thereby participatingin municipal governmentand, in conjunc-
tion with vereadores,passed decrees regulatingthe social, economic, com-
mercial, fiscal, and public health aspects of the municipality,and enforced
crown and gubernatorialorders.
Effective administrationand enforcement of justice could not keep
abreastof sustainedmigrationfrom the coast to the interiorand to the far
north and far south, with subsequent establishmentof encampments and

15 On eligibility for
municipaloffice: "se a falta de pessoas capazes fes a principionecessariaa toller-
ancia de admittiros mullatos ao exercicio daquelles officios, hoje que tem cessado esta rezao se fas
indecorosoq'ellas sejao ocupadospor pessoas em q' haja semelhantedefeito,"on the undesirabilityof a
mulattojuiz ordindriobecoming ouvidor, "sera tal vez em ocasido q' se vejao ocupar aquelles lugares
por pessoas notoriamentedefectuozas e maculadas,"and final ruling:"Me pareceo mandarvosdeclarar
... q' nio possa daqui em diante ser elleito vereadorou Juiz Ordinario,nem andarna governanqadas
villas dessa Capitaniahomem algum q' seja mullato dentro nos quatro graos em q' o mullatismo h6
impedimto ..." ( APMSG, vol. 5, ff.115v-116r and vol. 29, doc. 17). An earlier (1721) royal proposal
that marriedwhites only could serve on Cdmarashad been overruledby the governorgiven the scarcity
of white marriedmales (APMSG, vol. 23, fols. 6, 101).
16 "expecialmentesahindosemelhantesexpressoens da boca de homens vis como sdo todos os q'este
prezte anno servem de vereadores... ." He characterizedthem as "homens de tdo baixa esfera como
sdo os prezentes vereadores,q' por todos os caminhos licitos e illicitos procurartoentrarnestas ocu-
paCqes...," Galveas to King, 9 October 1732 (APMSG, vol. 35, doc. 100).

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20 AMBIVALENT
AUTHORITIES

towns far removedfrom seats of crown government.The presenceof munic-

ipal councils did translateinto a degree of law enforcement.But, such were
the expanses of the sertao that even the nearest Camarawas too distant to
provide effective legal redressor enforcementof the law. Crown-appointed
ouvidores and even lowly justice officials, aware of the hazardsand hard-
ships of journeyingoff the beaten trackand inadequatefinancialreimburse-
ment, evaded their responsibilities.Particularlycritical in remote areas was
the absence of notariesand it was common-placefor people to die intestate
or without their wills being properly drawn up or witnessed. The crown
respondedby orderingCamarasin Brazil to adopt a practicein currentuse
in Portugal:namely, appointmentof a "judgeof the twentieth"(juiz da vin-
tena) in parishes one or more leagues from a town or city. Such "judges,"
who lacked legal training,could rule in minorcivil cases, impose fines, and
arrest criminals, but could not rule on criminal cases or those involving
property.Their prime functions were as mediatorsbetween contendingfac-
tions, drawing up wills, notarizingdocuments, and maintainingthe peace.
By a royal provisdo of 20 January1699, the king orderedgovernor-general
Dom Jodo de Lencastre in Salvador to appoint a juiz da vintena in each
parishof the sert6es of Bahia, and also a captainmajor(capitdo mor) and a
cabo of militia. This order was only executed some 20 years later.In 1735
Dom Joao V orderedthe Camaraof Vila Rica to appoint a juiz da vintena
and his clerk (escrivdo da vintena) in each parish. The following year the
Camaradrew up statutes (regimento) for judges and clerks and complied
with the royal order.
The selection of juizes was rigorous:candidateswere screened twice as
to their suitability.Names of three qualified candidateswere forwardedto
the Senado by the senior militia officer in each parish.This procedurecould
have favored the nominationof a fellow militia man who, in turn, would
have been more likely to be a pardo. In formal session, the councilors met
and voted for a single appointee.In 1748 the procurator(procurador)of the
Camaraof Vila Rica lodged a formal protest that mulattoswere serving as
juizes da vintena in some parishes in the environs and opined that such
appointmentswere "harmfulto the public interest."He requestedthe incum-
bents be suspended.The procuratoralleged that,althoughdissenting,he had
been outvoted. The councilors overruled(26 June 1748) his objection and
statedfor the recordthatas for mulattocandidates"if they were of good con-
duct and therewas no indicationthattheir appointmentwould be harmfulto
the public good, they should serve because the strengthof the law does not
rest on a mischance but on proven ability."The councilors noted that expe-
rience had shown that whites refused to serve in this office, presumably
because they regardedit as low status.Two weeks later,on 10 July 1748, the

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 21

councilorsapprovedthe appointmentof Jose Fernandesasjuiz da vintenaof

the parishof OuroBranco.The significance of this appointmentcannothave
been lost on the participants:Fernandeswas black (preto).'7
The action by the councilors of Vila Rica throws a new perspective on
what constitutedeligibility for public office by persons of African birth or
descent. The vereadores publicly affirmed their collective conviction that
effective enforcementof the law dependedon proven ability, and not on an
accident of birth.Thereby,they rejected the notion of inheritedqualidade,
estado, or condigdo.This statement,and their subsequentactions, reinforce
how they consciously and deliberatelyvoted to appointpersons of African
descent to administerjustice and exercise governance.This sounds a cau-
tionary note for historians.In the absence of sources which would provide
an African or Afro-Brazilian perspective, in the matter of appointments
scholarsare largelyrelianton laws, decrees with the force of law, edicts, and
banns, and on royal, viceregal and gubernatorialcorrespondence,municipal
minutes, and letterspatent.There is the temptationto assume-unless there
is evidence to the contrary-that metropolitanadmonitionsagainstappoint-
ments of blacks and mulattosto public office in Brazil were obeyed by those
in the position to fill such offices, either by election or by appointment,at
the local level. It is also easy to follow the lead of crown officials in the
colony who, when informed of the appointmentof a black or mulatto to
public office, dismissed this as attributableto oversight,negligence or igno-
rance by those making such appointments.Some such appointmentswere
attributedin contemporaryrecords to exceptional personalqualities: "bom
tratoe presenqa"in the case of a mamelucoappointedas capitdo mor. Such
determinationswere made by colonists and, as was also the case of com-
ments on color and "passing"as white, reflected prevailing standardsfor
that time and place. Oft cited is the conversationby Henry Koster,a visitor
to Pernambucoin the early nineteenthcentury,who asked a mulatto if the
local capitdo-morwere not a mulatto. The reply was: "He was, but is not
now." The informantposed his own question: "Can a Capitam-morbe a
mulattoman?"The answerto the rhetoricalquestionwas, yes if the office is
associated with a white incumbentand if the mulattoincumbentsees him-

17 King to Lencastre,11 February1700 ( APBOR, vol. 6. doc.29) and King to the count of Sabugosa,
26 June 1720 (APBOR,vol. 62, doc. 36); Provisdo of 15 November 1735 (APMCMOP,vol. 7, fols. 167r-
168r). For selection proceduresand Regimentoof 21 August 1736, see APMCMOP,vol. 32, ff. 24v-25r,
47r-v; Codigo Philippino, 14thed. (Rio de Janeiro:Typographiado InstitutoPhilimathico,1870), Lo. 1,
tit. 65, ?73, 74. In 1716 inhabitantsof Padre Faria parish in Vila Rica were invited to elect two such
judges (APMCMOP,vol. 4, ff.2v-3r); "prejudisialao bem publico . .. fossem homes de bom prosedi-
mento e ndo prejudicassemao bem comum pudessem servirporquea bondadeda Ley ndo comsiste no
asidente mas sim no bom prosedimento.. ." (APMCMOP,vol. 52, ff. 169r-171v;177v-178r).

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22 AMBIVALENT
AUTHORITIES

self, and is seen by others, as white by virtue of the office and has those
"qualities"associatedwith a white office-holder.The councilorsof Vila Rica
would have been keenly sensitive to these factors and, if the potential
incumbentwere found lacking in any of these regards,would not have pur-
sued the appointment.To do so would have broughtembarassmentto the
appointeeand possible reprimandfor those makingthe appointment.'8 What
contemporaries were to to
unwilling acknowledgeopenly, resorting circum-
locution, was that blacks and mulattoswere appointedto local public office
on merit and in defiance of royal ordersand in a period priorto reformsin
the 1760s and 1770s promulgatedby the crown at the instigationof the mar-
quis of Pombal.
The marquis of Pombal (Secretaryof State and Foreign Affairs, 1770-
1776) took legislative steps to abolish the color bar, eliminate race as a
factorin eligibility for public office, outlaw abusiveepithetsdirectedat Indi-
ans and Amerindians, and eliminate the distinction between "Old" and
"New Christians."In the Estado da India, an Asian person who had been
baptizedChristianwas grantedthe same legal and social statusas reinol, vis-
a-vis a white person born in Portugal.In Brazil, legislation promotedmar-
riages between Amerindianwomen and white settlers, and offered benefits
to resultingprogeny.Legislation did not halt centuriesof prejudiceand dis-
crimination,and few orientalsbenefited from their new found eligibility for
public office, but the intention was there. Although Pombal abolished the
slave tradeto Portugal,only by a royal decree of 16 January1773 was there
emancipation. In Portugal, blacks became eligible for posts, honors, and
privileges. But therewas no correspondinglegislation benefitingAfricansor
Afro-Brazilians.This rankledAfro-Brazilianpardos. In the 1790s, pardo
militia officers in Salvadorasked for clarificationbecause in Brazil persons
of African descent were still denied posts in the judiciary and in the first
troops-of-the-line.'9Frustrationof Afro-Brazilians,whose expectationshad
been raised of equal eligibility with whites for public office, was evident
from an 1804 petition to the prince-regentby free pardos of Goias.
This petitioncharacterizedas "menfull of fanaticismand capitalenemies
of humanity"the elected officers of the Camaraof Vila Boa de Goias. The

18 "tem algiia casta da terra,ainda

q' passa por branco;alto e magro,pintade branco,"APMSG, vol.
55, ff. 119r-120r,135v-136r.Cf Henry Koster's expression for mulattoofficers in white militia troops,
magistrates,and as priests:"in practicethey are ratherreputedwhite men," Travelsin Brazil, 2 vols. 2nd
ed (London:Longman,Hurst,Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1817), vol. 2, pp. 209-210. On "mulattoescape
hatch,"see Degler, Neither Black nor White,pp. 107, 218-19 and 223-45.
19 On Pombalinelegislation, see Boxer, Race Relations,pp. 73-74, 83-84 and 98-100; Russell-Wood,
The Black Man in Slaveryand Freedom,pp. 42-44; Carneiro,PreconceitoRacial; also APBOR vol. 91,
fols 228-35v.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 23

pardos noted that the councilors had refused to countenancethe bid by a

pardo for the local office of notary (tabelido) or the candidacyof another
pardo for the same office in Vila Boa. Governorssided with the councilorsin
theirstance.This augustbody rejectedthe candidacyfor vereadorof a white
captainof the auxiliaries(ordenangas).That his fatherhad often served on
the council and was of greatdistinction,and thatthe prospectivecandidate's
wife had relatives who had held high militaryoffice, were of no import to
councilorswho rejectedhis candidacybecause his wife was morena.20
Furtherresearchis necessary to identify those offices which persons of
Africandescent did hold, the statusof these positions, and how importantas
contributingfactors were differencesof time, place, and demography.These
examples from Minas Gerais and Goias underlinethe degree to which, for
local office, the outcome dependedon compositionof the Camarain a given
year or the dispositionof a governorand how these indeterminantscould be
more importantthan metropolitanlegislation. Mary Karaschnotes the pres-
ence in Goias of a pardo who was the second-rankedofficer in the captaincy
and thus eligible to replace the governorin the case of the latter's death or
incapacity.In a similar situationin Angola involving a white officer, such a
prospectled to official maneuveringsand machinationsto eliminatehis can-
didacy on the groundshe was Angolan-born.The doublejeopardy of being
pardo and Brazilian-bornwould have made elevation of such a personto the
governorshipof Goias problematicalat best.2'
Persons of African descent in Brazil contributedto law enforcementand
implementationof royal, viceregal or gubernatorialdecrees. Brazil escaped
the dire consequencesof widespreadslave revolts, but insecuritycharacter-
ized life in town and country.Amerindianraidsand attacksby fugitive slaves
on isolated homesteads were commonplace.Within some cities and towns,
there were small groups of runawayslaves known as calhambolasand even
largergroups (quilombosor mocambos).The latterwere more prevalentin
the immediateenvironsand on the peripheriesof regions of intense agricul-
turaland mining activity, operatingalmost with impunity,and even finding
protectionfrom unscrupulouswhite storekeeperswho acted as 'fences' for
stolen propertyand harboredslaves on the run from the law. In the colonial
period and duringthe empire, quilomboswere presentfrom Rio Grandedo

20 Arquivo Hist6rico Ultramarino.Goias. Caixas 1-9. Published in Luis

Palacin, Ledonias Franco
Garcia, JanainaAmado, eds., Hist6ria de Goidasem Documentos. 1. Col6nia. Coleqgo Documentos
Goianos, No. 29 (Goidnia:EditoraUniversidadeFederalde Goias, 1995), pp. 188-89, doc. 162.
21 Karaschpersonal communication.Carlos Couto, Os capitdes-moresem Angola no
sdculo XVIII.
Subsidiopara o estudo da sua actuagdo (Luanda:Institutode InvestigaqgoCientificade Angola, 1972),
p. 38 n. 33 andp. 41.

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24 AMBIVALENTAUTHORITIES

Sul to Maranhdo.22In such an environment,enforcementof law and order

was dangerousand physically demanding.Volunteerscould expect little or
no compensationin the form of officially sanctionedemoluments (emolu-
mentos), nor could they expect official recognition through privileges or
exemptions. White colonists consistently evaded such duties. By default,
blacks and mulattosbecame defendersof the res publica.Their role will be
examinedin threecontexts:municipal,regional,and colony-wide.

Municipalities in Brazil had paid officials-constables and their

bailiffs-to maintainlaw and order.But patrols on a street-by-streetbasis
were often organizedby parish.Apathy and reticence led white colonists to
evade this duty,especially in such a trouble-pronetownship as Vila Rica. In
1761 the councilorsplaced theirdilemmabefore the crown magistrate(ouvi-
dor) for resolution:eitherthe size of patrols(about20 undera quadrilheiro)
would have to be reduced,or mulattosandpardos be enlisted.23His decision
is not recorded,but an importantprinciple was at stake: namely authoriza-
tion for non-whitesto carryfire-hardenedstaffs (varas) by night in an urban
area. It also raises the little studied issue of firearmsand sidearmslegisla-
tion and regulationin Portugaland her empire which places in context the
contributionof Africans and Afro-Braziliansto the enforcementof the law
and as instrumentsfor social control of persons of African descent.
There was an extensive body of legislation governing the purchase,cir-
culation, and use of firearmsand sidearmsin continentalPortugaland over-
seas. A comprehensivelaw of 23 July 1678 prescribedheavy penalties for
unauthorizeduse of firearmsand carryingof weapons capable of inflicting
a penetratingwound. This was incorporatedinto the law of 29 March 1719.
Anybody, "regardlessof birth, social position, and rank" ("de qualquer

22 On
calhambolas(var:quilombolas)and quilombosin urbanareas,see MaryC. Karasch,Slave Life
in Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1850 (Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress, 1987), pp. 307, 308 n. 19, 309 (table
10.4), and 311-16; Reis, Slave Rebellion in Brazil, pp.41-2, and 55-58; Russell-Wood, Black Man in
Slavery and Freedom, p. 136; Accioli-Amaral,Mem6rias Hist6ricas e Politicas, Vol. 2 (1925), p. 450;
for royal approval(30 October 1765) of steps takenby the interimgovernorsin Salvadoragainstquilom-
bos in the suburbsof Salvador, see APBOR, vol. 66, fol. 114r.For a bibliographyon quilombos, see
StuartB. Schwartz,Slaves, Peasants, and Rebels. ReconsideringBrazilian Slavery (Urbana& Chicago:
Universityof Illinois Press, 1992), p. 14, and his own (pp. 103-136) thoughtfulessay which advancesthe
state of the debate, "RethinkingPalmares:Slave Resistance in Colonial Brazil."The state of the art on
quilombo studies is representedby essays in Jodo Jose Reis and Flaiviodos Santos Gomes, eds., Liber-
dade por umfio. Hist6ria dos quilombosno Brasil (Sdo Paulo:Companhiadas Letras, 1996). On Minas
Gerais, see Waldemarde Almeida Barbosa,Negros e quilombosem Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, 1972)
and Carlos Magno Guimardes, Uma negagdo da ordem escravista: quilombos em Minas Gerais no
seculo XVIII(Belo Horizonte, 1983). For a comparativedimension, L. Bethell, ed., The CambridgeHis-
tory of LatinAmerica,Vol. XI. BibliographicalEssays (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress, 1995),
pp. 124-5.
23 APMCMOP,vol. 77, f. 108r-v.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 25

qualidade, estado e condigidoque seja") was forbidden to carry pointed

weapons, be they of metal or wood: these included daggers and dirks
(adegas;punhais), blades (folhas de oliveira), awls and pointedinstruments
(sovelas;pontas de diamante),and even large scissors. Of greatconcernwas
that such weapons were easily concealed: swords (espadas de marca) or
rapiers (espadins) could be carried at the waist provided their length
exceeded three hand spans. Sumptuarylaws of 24 May 1749 forbade the
carryingof swordsby certaincategories:"apprenticesto a tradeand artisans,
lackeys, humpbacks,sailors, boatmen, bargemen,blacks (negros) and like
persons of similaror lower social position."Lack of compliance led to reis-
suance of this law in 1756 (24 January)with the additionof stricterpenal-
ties for slaves.24
In 1626, the Camaraof Salvadorhadforbiddenany negroto carrya cudgel,
staff,firearm,or knife, on pain of a fine of 500 reis for the first infractionand
$1000 reis andjail for recidivism.25 This was an early exampleof the tenorof
armslegislationwhich was to be pervasivein the colonial period.Gubernato-
rialdecreesandmunicipaledicts reflecteda differentsocial andphysicalenvi-
ronmentand relatedthe right to carrycertainsidearmsto color, civil status,
occupation,and social position. In 1711 Dom Jodo V tacitly acknowledged
that prohibitionsin force in the metropoliswere not applicableto a frontier
society such as prevailed in much of Brazil. On arrivingin Sdo Paulo to
assume (1710) the governorshipof the new captaincyof Sdo Paulo e Minas
Gerais,Ant6nio de AlbuquerqueCoelho de Carvalhoissued an orderforbid-
ding any "Amerindian,personof mixed blood (bastardo,mameluco),mulatto,
or black (preto), slave or free, from carryinga firearm,cutlass or sword, let
alone enteringa town with such weaponsunless accompanyingtheirowners."
Exceptionswere madefor slaves accompanyingownersor on specific assign-
ments with writtenauthorization.The circumstanceof being white was not
qualificationenough to bear firearms.This privilege was accordedonly to
those whites who were "nobleandrepublicans"("nobrese republicos").Such
could carryup to six firearmswhen travellingto andfromtheircountryestates
or when on a journey,but on conditionthatbolts were removedon enteringa
town. Otherwhites, and even mamelucosand bastardos,were authorizedto
carry firearms when travelling provided they were married,householders,
propertyowners, and residentsin a township.No personof Africandescent,
slave or free, was permittedto carrya pistol while on horseback.This privi-

24 APMSG, vol. 20, docs. 52 and 53;

"aprendizese oficios mecanicos, lacayos, mochillas, marin-
heiros, barqueiros,fragateiros,negros, e outraspessoas de igual ou inferiorcondigqo,"APBOR, vol. 50,
ff. 28r-34v;APMSG, vol. 50, ff. 73v-74r.
25 Minutes of 1 April 1626 and of 20 September 1628, Documentos historicos do
ArquivoMunici-
pal. Atas da Cdmara,Vol. 1 (Salvador:Prefeiturado Municipio do Salvador, 1944), pp. 33 and 106.

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26 AMBIVALENT AUTHORITIES

lege was reservedfor militaryofficers at or above the rankof captainand law

enforcementofficers in the royal service. Such ordersoften blurreddistinc-
tions between slaves and free personsof Africandescent (and here it may be
noted parentheticallythat,dependingon theirowners and sometimeson their
own skills, slaves might enjoy de facto higher status than free persons of
color) and underlinedthat whiteness did not guaranteeeligibility to carrya
firearm.In general, slaves were forbiddenfrom carryingoffensive weapons
(shotguns,fire hardenedcudgels and staffs,clubs, "Flemishknives,"axes and
cleavers) unless such were essential to their occupationor they had written
permission (which was revocable) from an owner.26Firearmsand sidearms
legislation was often inconsistent.In 1717 in Minas Gerais, governorDom
Pedrode Almeidapermittedall volunteerswilling to attackquilombosto avail
themselves of any weapon. In 1748 the Caimaraof Vila Rica insisted that
everybody,regardlessof "quality"(qualidade)shouldhave a firearmin his or
her home, or at least a dart,javelin, or spear(dardo;zagaia;pena). Free per-
sons of Africandescent were targetedfor restrictivelegislation.A gubernato-
rial edict of 1756 orderedimprisonmentof free persons(forros)foundin pos-
session of a knife or blade (faca de ponta;facaflamenga).27Some lessons may
be drawnfrom such legislation:authorizationto carrya weapon was not an
inalienablerightbut a privilegeto be grantedto individualsand to designated
groups such as black and mulatto militia soldiers, ultimately at the king's
will;28much as there was a social hierarchy,so too was there a hierarchyof
sidearmsin which swords were at the apex; social standingcould be defined
in terms of weapons; and, from the perspectiveof colonial administrators,
grantingor withholdingof permissionto carryweapons was linked to func-
tion and occupationas well as to social status.These considerationsprovide
the contextfor anotherfacet of law enforcementin Brazil:this was personsof
African descent as bush captains(known by regionalvariantsof capitdo do
campo or capitdodo mato).
Responsibility for day-to-day vigilance over runaway slaves at the
regional level was entrustedto captain-majorsand sergeant-majors"of the

26 King to Ant6nio de
Albuquerque,24 July 1711(APMSG, vol. 5, f. 26v). Ordeno, e mando, q'
nenhum mameluco, bastardo,mulato, carij6, ou preto escravos ou forros possdo trazerarma algua de
fogo, traqado,ou catanae menos entrarnas villas com elas salvo em compa de seus senhores,"(APMSG,
vol. 7 f. 8r;APMSG, vol. 11, ff.118r-119r,282v-284r). For a samplingof like orders,see APMSG vol. 7
f. 8r; vol. 11, ff. 118r-119r,270r-v, 279r-80r,282v-284r; vol. 27, f. 10r-v;APMCMOP,vol. 54, ff. 147v-
148r.
27 APMCMOPvol. 6, f. 10r-v;vol. 52, f. 217r-v;APMSG, vol. 37, ff.
20v-21v, 45v-46v; vol. 50, ff.,
80v-82v.
28 For a comparativeperspective on arms
legislation, see Degler, Neither Black nor White,pp. 75-
82; Cohen and Greene, Neither Slave nor Free, p. 39. For royal permission to qualified applicantsto
carry swords, see Russell-Wood,Black Man in Slavery and Freedom,p. 8, and note 5.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 27

entries"(capitdes mores das entradas;sargentos mores das entradas). The

phrase "of the entries" requires explanation. Runaway slaves established
settlements (quilombos) within towns and cities, in their immediate envi-
rons, and on the peripheriesof regions of intense agriculturaland mining
activity.They also establishedthemselves far from such centers.The phrase
" to make an entry"referredto launchingan attackby a force (bandeira)into
what was regardedas a hostile area: hostile because its terrainand vegeta-
tion were physically challenging; hostile because it was removed from
established settlementsor highly inaccessible; and hostile because persons
sought refuge there and could be relied on to vigorously resist intruders.
Such regions were conducive to quilombos. "To make an entry" was an
expressionassociatedwith attackson hostile Amerindiansand bore the con-
notationof capturingpersons consideredthreateningto the public weal. No
less did it carry the connotationof being a strike for "civilization"against
persons associated with barbarism,and not solely pagan Amerindianswho
were referredto as gentio bdrbaro.Actions by such troopswere not directed
exclusively against quilombos but against any group seen as threatsto the
public interest: these included gypsies, deserters, illicit miners, diamond
smugglers, and the disaffectedhumanflotsam andjetsam of the sertao.
At parishor local levels, the prime responsibilityof a bush captainwas to
capturefugitive slaves, but extendedto capturingblacks found in possession
of prohibitedweapons.29A capitdo mor was responsiblefor all bush captains
in his district.30
Registers of appointments(patentese provisioes) for Minas
Gerais identify by color persons of African descent to whom letters patent
as bush captains were issued. For the period 22 February1722 through26
October 1727, letterspatentwere issued to 89 capitdes do mato: of these 14
were of African descent (8 pretos forros; 6 pardosforros).31 While there is
no indicationin this sampling, others of mixed blood (African,Amerindian
, and Caucasian)also served as bush captains, as too did whites and even
nativeAmericansas noted by MaryKaraschfor early nineteenthcenturyRio
de Janeiro.Furthermore,althoughnowhere is it so stated, the English trav-
eler, Henry Koster, was doubtless correct when he described capitdes do
mato in Pernambucoas being "almost without exception, creole blacks,"
vis-a-visAmerican-born. This probablyappliedto suchappointeeselsewhere.32

29 See D. Lourenqode Almeida's edict, Vila Rica, 9

January1732, translatedby RobertE. Conrad,
Childrenof God's Fire. A DocumentaryHistory of Black Slavery in Brazil (Princeton:PrincetonUniver-
sity Press, 1983), pp. 250-251.
30 APMSG, vol. 12, f. 85v.
31 APMSG, vol. 21, ff. 69r, 70v, 76r, 84v-85r, 116r-v, 128v, 148v-149r;vol. 26, ff. 13r-v,77v, 109r-
v; vol. 28, ff. 41v, 48v, 81v-82r.
32 Karasch,Slave Life, p. 81 and n. 58; Koster, Travelsin
Brazil, vol. 2, p. 222.

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28 AMBIVALENT AUTHORITIES

Of these appointeesin Minas Gerais, all those identified in letters patent

specifically by color (pardo,pre^to)were at the rankof capitdo do mato with
one exception: the pardo, Ant6nio dos Reis dos Santos, appointedcapitdo
mor das entradas of the Passagemdo Rio das Velhas, notoriousfor quilom-
bos and social unrest.33Some letters patent merely state that the area of
action is "all Minas." Others are specific: Comarcado Rio das Velhas or
Comarcaof Vila Rica, termo de Vila do Carmo, Distrito de Congonhas do
Campoor Distritodo Sitio da Lapa. Some few bush captainswere promoted
to the ranksof sargentomor and even capitdo mor das entradasbut absence
of references to the color of such persons suggests that these were white
ratherthanpardos or pretos. Nor is there any reason to think that the office
of capitdo do mato was a stepping stone in terms of upwardsocial mobility
except perhapsfor those rare applicantsfor positions in militia regiments
who cited priorexperience as bush captains.
While sharingpoints in common with coureurs du bois in New France
and the alcalde provincial of Spanish America, capitdes do mato have
received little attention from scholars until recently.34Early references to
capitdes do campo in Pernambucoand Bahia date from the first quarterof
the seventeenth century. In the course of the seventeenth century they
became institutionalizedin other coastal captaincies and, in the eighteenth
century, in the land-locked captaincies of Minas Gerais, Goias, and Mato
Grosso.35Often free blacks or free mulattos, bush captains were at the low
end of personnel on whom governors called for regulatoryactions against
persons of African descent:justice officers, soldiers, militia, and bush cap-
tains. They operatedon the peripheryof law enforcementpersonnelbut had
the specific charge to hunt down runawayslaves and bring them to justice,
dead or alive. Complaintsthatcapitdes and theirmen and carij6s sat around
getting drunk ratherthan searching out runaway slaves were frequent. In
1766 inhabitantsof Paracatticomplainedthatbush captainswere ineffectual
because their staple diet was sugar-canebrandy (cachaga) and farina and
that "drunkennessis inseparablefrom their occupation."36 They were also

33 APMSG, vol. 21, ff. 148v-149r;5 August 1723.

34 Jose Alipio Goulart,Da fuga ao suicidio. Aspectos da rebeldia dos escravos no Brasil (Rio de
Janeiro:Conquista, 1972), pp. 69-103; Silvia Hunold Lara, Campos da Violencia (Paz e Terra:Rio de
Janeiro, 1988), pp. 295-322; and her essay "Do singularao plural.Palmares,capitdes-do-matoe o gov-
erno dos escravos,"in Reis and Gomes, eds., Liberdadepor umfio, pp. 81-109.
35 Pernambuco, 1612 (Schwartz, Slaves, Peasants, Rebels, p. 109); Salvador, 1625 (Documentos
Historicos do ArquivoMunicipal,Vol. 1, p. 4).
36 "... Huns mullatos,ou carijos insolentes, e ociozos, quaes ordinariamentesdo os
capes do matto"
was how they were describedby a governorof Minas Gerais in 1736 (APMSG, vol. 44, ff. Illyv-112r;
vol. 56, ff. 37v-38v); "a bebedisse anda anexa ao officio" (APMSG, vol. 60, ff.
110v-114r).

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 29

accused of killing fugitive slaves, even if the latterwere neither armednor

offered resistance, of failing to restraindogs used to hunt down fugitives,
and of keeping in their own employ slaves whom they had capturedrather
than delivering them in a timely mannerto owners or jailers, as requiredby
law. Whatever the shortcomingsof such captains and their soldiers, their
very presencemade an importantideological statement:acknowledgmenton
the part of officialdom that persons of African descent could be placed in
positions of authorityover otherpersonsof Africandescent otherthanin the
regulatedcontext of militia regiments.Thatthis occurredin early eighteenth
centuryMinas Gerais where it was variously suggested that free persons of
Africandescent carrypassportsif travelling,be subjectto curfews, and were
declared ineligible to be chosen as godparents for fear of the authority
vested in them, such public acknowledgmentwas astounding.37 Moreover,
there was the potential for promotion and a command hierarchy: from
capitdo do mato to sargento mor das entradas and to capitdo mor das
entradas of a district (comarca), with increasingresponsibilityand author-
ity. Even a lowly bush captainhad authorityover as many as 20 in his patrol.
Appointmentsof bush captains followed laws of supply and demand:
when threatsby quilombosreachedepidemic levels, an almost ritualprocess
of catharsisoccurredand bush captainswere appointed;once the dangerwas
past, they were often relieved of their services. A royal orderof 12 January
1719 laid down guidelines for such appointments,but within Brazil there
were variantsin the appointingperson or agency and in the form of remu-
neration.The initiativeusually came from Camarasor governors.The rigor
of the appointmentprocess could be questionablebut in 1764 instructions
were issued thatcandidatesbe screenedby captainsof theirdistricts,thatthey
receive certification(atestagdo)fromthe municipalcouncil and letterspatent
from the governor,and be requiredto provide a descriptivelist of soldiers
under their command. Captains were governed by a statute (regimento)
which laid out termsof contractand specified a code of conductand punish-
ments for failing to comply.38Remunerationcould come from various
sources. Sometimes concerned colonists from a single parish contributed
towarda purse to employ such a captain.Othertimes, a Camara,or consor-
tium of Camaras,commissioned such a troop or troops, and imposed a tax
(finta). By an order of 6 March 1741 the king chargedouvidoresin Minas

37 APMSG, vol. 4, ff. 238r-9r;vol. 11,ff. 171v-72v, 282v-84r.

38 APMSG, vol. 50, ff. 90r-96v; Revista do Archivo Pablico Mineiro, Ano 2 (1897),
pp. 389-91;
SPBM, "Colesamdas noticias dos primeirosdescobrimentosdas Minas na Americaq' fez o Dr. Caetano
da Costa Matoco .. .," ff. 46-47. FranciscoAnt6nio Lopes, Os paldcios de VilaRica (Belo Horizonte,
1955), pp. 125-30;APMCMOP,vol. 32, ff. 210r-212r.

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30 AMBIVALENT AUTHORITIES

Geraisto allocateup to 300 oitavas of gold to underwritesuch appointments.

Other appointmentswere by gubernatorialdecree, or by a capitdo mor do
campo. In 1765, King Jose I decreedthe appointmentof Jose InaicioMarqal
Coutinho,an homempreto, as a bush captainin Minas Gerais.39Remunera-
tion usually dependedon distancetraveledby a bush captainfrom his home
base, in conjunctionwith the degree of resistanceby runawayslaves, and if
these were individuals,in a small group,or a quilombo.A contractcould also
be for a fixed sum to eradicateall runawaysfrom a given areawithin a spec-
ified period.Some captainswere paid a bountyon a per capitabasis, whereas
others received an annualwage. Bush captainswere authorizedto kill only
when slaves evadedor resistedarrest,but whatconstitutedresistancewas not
defined. This ambiguity and questionableconduct led the Camaraof Vila
Rica in 1756 to requirethat henceforthall bush captains claiming fees as
bounty huntersmust provide witnesses to testify that slaves had been killed
while resistingcapture,as well as the heads of theirvictims.40
If theirtermsof employmentvaried and theirjurisdictionwas ill-defined,
the effectiveness of bush captains was often underminedby circumstances
beyond theircontrol.The crown failed to formulatecomprehensivelaws, of
colony-wide application, concerning fugitive slaves, and was reluctantto
disbursesums from royal coffers for theircapture.4'Camaraswere negligent
in providingadequateand consistentfunding.Finally,neitherking, nor gov-
ernors, nor vereadores,could count on the unequivocal supportof owners,
some of whom preferredto overlook a slave's flight ratherthan risking loss
of labor by imprisonment.The irony was that the efficient dischargeof his
duties by a bush captainremovedthe raisond'etre for his continuedemploy-
ment, resultingin redundancy.Added to the ambiguitywas the fact that his
relationshipto regularlaw enforcementpersonnelwas ambivalentand com-
parableto that of bounty huntersin North America. In colonial Brazil, the
office of capitdo do mato-regardless of the color of the incumbent-was
of low status and thus it was not surprisingthat blacks and mulattos should
hold such positions. Unlike the Henriques, whose officers have been

39 APMSG, vol. 29, doc. 129; vol. 50, ff. 80r-82v; vol. 63, doc 40; vol. 29, doc. 78; vol. 44,
ff.lllv-
112r; vol. 62, f. 108v; vol. 65, ff.15v-16r. On appointmentssee Koster, Travels,vol. 2, pp. 221-2, and
Inventdriodos manuscritos avulsos relativos a Minas Gerais existentes no Arquivo Histdrico Ultra-
marino (Lisboa), 3 vols. (Belo Horizonte:FundagqoJodo Pinheiro, 1998), #6784, 6792.
40 APMSG, vol. 11, ff. 282v-84r; vol. 50 ff. 35r-v,90r-96v;APMCMOP,vol. 65, ff. 214r-5v.In 1738
the Senado of Vila Rica requestedGomes Freirede Andradeto reduce fees because declining gold pro-
duction had made these onerous (APMCMOP,vol. 32, ff. 132v-134r).
41 FernandoJose de Portugalto Martinhode Melo e Castro,30 April 1788, apud Eduardode Castro
e Almeida, ed., Inventdriodos documentosrelativosao Brasil existentesno Archivode Marinhae Ultra-
mar de Lisboa. Vol. 3. 1786-1798 (Rio de Janeiro:Officinas Graphicasda Bibliotheca Nacional, 1914),
doc. 12.917; Cf. doc. 3143 (20 April 1740).

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 31

describedas a "blackelite" in late colonial Salvador,and about whom there

are sufficient data to permit sketching of a social and economic profile and
tracinga professionaltrajectory,42 bush captainsrarelyare more than names
in a municipalcontractor letterof appointment.Individualactions againsta
quilombo are subsumedinto the collective attributionto capitdes do mato.
Exceptions to such anonymitywere when individualconduct was so repre-
hensible as to occasion recordedofficial outrage.

Shortcomingswere offset by the importantservices bush captains pro-

vided which were ancillary to capturing runaway slaves. There were
regional variationsto the natureand extent of such activities. White settlers
lived in fear of attacksby quilombos,but colonists in Minas Gerais appear
to have been more preoccupiedwith the specter of slave revolt than were
theircounterpartsin frontierareas,such as Goiis, where the threatof attacks
by Amerindians loomed large. Their unequalled knowledge of terrain
enabled bush captains to act as guides for the elite dragoons dispatchedto
the colony from Portugalor for companies of colonial militia chargedwith
flushing out fugitive slaves or illegal speculatorsin the DistritoDiamantino.
They could live off the land and enter dense undergrowthimpenetrableto
regular cavalry troops.43Bush captains in Minas Gerais collaboratedwith
colonial authoritiesin escortingbullion from mining areasto Rio de Janeiro,
investigatedmurdersin the interior,and acted as deterrentson contrabandin
gold dust and diamonds.At the local level, they supplementedregularlaw
enforcement personnel by enforcing curfews, patrolled streets at night,
raidedquilombos,roundedup calhambolas, enforced edicts prohibitingthe
carrying or possession of firearms by Africans and Afro-Brazilians,both
slave and free, and broke up groups of blacks and mulattoswhose behavior
threatenedpublic order.
While no claim is made that bush captains were pivotal to effective law
enforcementin colonial Brazil, this figure deserves betterthanrelegationto
footnotes or depiction as a drunken,swashbuckling,good-for-nothingas he
was often characterizedby contemporaryofficials, although the English
traveler Henry Koster, writing of capitdes do campo in Pernambuco,was
overly generouswhen characterizingthem as "menof undauntedcourage.""44
They were importantfigures in the social control of Africans and Afro-

42 HendrikKraay,"The Politics of Race in

Independence-EraBahia. The Black Militia Officers of
Salvador, 1790-1840," in Kraay,ed., Afro-BrazilianCultureand Politics, especially pp. 29-40.
43 APMSG, vol. 27, ff. 108v-ll0v, 117r-118r;vol. 33, ff. 17v, 18v. Regulartroops, infantryand cav-
alry, and militias were mobilized on specific occasions, see Reis, Slave Rebellion in Brazil, pp.42-3, 46-
47, 50 and 53-54.
44 Koster, Travelsin Brazil, vol. 2, p. 222.

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32 AMBIVALENT AUTHORITIES

Brazilians, both slave and free, at the local level. In PortugueseAmerica,

where authorityor controlexercised by a person of Africandescent over his
fellow men of color was viewed with suspicion other than in the corporate
context of militias where black and mulatto officers were readily account-
able, a bush captain commanded a troop of persons of predominantly
African descent. He was not partof a corporateentity.Any assessment was
exclusively performance-based.There was little scrutinyof how he met his
goals, nor indeed is it always clear to whom he was answerable for his
actions, or who had authorityover him. His office permittedhim to bear
firearms and sidearms, whose possession and carrying was otherwise for-
bidden to non-whites except in special circumstancesor when serving as
militiamen.Independentof mind and action, and often acting on the periph-
ery or outside the strict letter of the law, such captains formed an essential
part of the law enforcement system of the colony. A bush captain and his
troops were regarded,at worst, as an unavoidableevil; at best, as protectors
of white settlers,their families, homesteads,lands, and slaves. They allayed
fears of a possible black revolt which, it was feared, might overthrowcivi-
lization, as interpretedby the Portuguese,in the colony. This fear was upper-
most in the mind of governorDom Pedrode Almeidabut also was expressed
in the famous memorandum(consulta) of 1732 by Ant6nio Rodrigues da
Costa of the Conselho Ultramarinowhere he refers to "internalfear" and
"externalfear.""45

Finally referencesmust be made to militia (second-line troops)regiments

and companiesof whites, free blacks and free mulattos(pardos),each under
officers of their own color. These had been established in rural and urban
parishes of Brazil during the seventeenthcentury and became prevalentin
the eighteenth century. The military importanceof the regiments of free
blacks and freepardos could not be denied. Had not the black HenriqueDias
and the mulattoJodo FernandesVieira and their soldiers contributeddeci-
sively to victories over the Dutch in the seventeenthcentury?In 1710 black
auxiliaries fought with distinction in overcoming Du Clerc's attack on Rio
de Janeiro. When the Breton pirate Ren6 Duguay-Trouininvaded Rio de
Janeiro in 1711, militia companies including persons of African descent
from as far away as Minas Gerais were mobilized to come to the aid of the
strickencity. For some nerve-wrackingmonths in 1735 it appearedthat an
incidentinvolving PedroAlvares Cabral,Portugueseambassadorin Madrid,

45 APMSG, vol. 4, ff. 214v-215r; vol. 11, ff. 130r-133v, 170r-171r."Medo interno" and "medo
externo"in "Consultado Conselho Ultramarinoa S. M. Feito pelo ConselheiroAntonio Rodrigues da
Costa no anno de 1732," Revista do InstitutoHist6rico e GeogrdficoBrasileiro, vol. 7 (1866), pp. 498-
507.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 33

might escalate into war between Portugaland Spain: four thousandblacks

and mulattosin Minas Geraiswere armedand placed on alertto repel a pos-
sible Spanish invasion of Rio de Janeiro.46Limited law enforcement and
public service duties were performedby militiamen, another example of
how Afro-Brazilianofficers exerted leadershipand they and their soldiers
participatedin law enforcement at the local and district levels. Despite a
trackrecordof loyalty and courage,the Portuguesecrown never fully over-
came the unsubstantiatedfear that such militia companies, mostly of free
creoles, undercommandersof their own color constituteda threat.At vari-
ous times, the crown proposedthey be underwhite commandersor ordered
their amalgamationinto white companies. Despite the efforts of Dom Jodo
V (king 1705-1750) to have racially integratedmilitia regiments and com-
panies, this intentwas frustratedby oppositionby white as well as black and
mulatto militiamen.47Immediately after establishment(1808) of the royal
courtin Rio de Janeiro,the princeregent ordereda re-evaluationof military
preparednessagainst foreign attack.The governorof Bahia suggested that,
in such an event, slaves be armed.The futureDom JodoVI rejectedthe pro-
posal, but there had been earlier suggestions, at times when the security of
the colony was in the balance, slaves should be mobilized and rewardedby
their freedom.The princeregentrecognizedthe loyal militaryservice given
by blacks and mulattos,but remindedthe governorthatthey had been liber-
tos. With events in Saint Domingue a recent memory, the royal view was
that "it would be very risky to place in their hands the instrumentswith
which they may revolt."48
Free blacks and mulattos and even slaves defending the colony against
externalforces in the form of Dutch and Frenchattacksand occupationshad
a clearly defined enemy. But AfricansandAfro-Braziliansmay have experi-
enced some ambivalenceas to theirown roles and identitieswhen fightingto
protectthe res publica against "internalenemies." Lack of official recogni-
tion of theirservices and talents,and denial of opportunitiesfor public office

46 C. R.
Boxer, TheDutch in Brazil, 1624-1654 (Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1957), pp. 168-9, 195-97,
214 and 240-44; and The Golden Age of Brazil, 1695-1750 (Berkeley: University of CaliforniaPress,
1969), pp. 88-89 and 95-103. Gomes Freirede Andradeto the King, 30 August 1735 (APMSG, vol. 47,
ff. llv-13r).
47 Russell-Wood,Black Man in Slavery and Freedom,pp. 88-89.
48 "... seri muito arriscadopor-lhes nas mdos os instrumentoscom que talvez queirdo sublever-
se. .. ." Linharesto the governorof Bahia, 26 June 1810. (APBOR, vol. 110, ff. 405r-406r). For earlier
proposalsfor mobilizationof slaves, see DaurilAlden, Royal Governmentin Colonial Brazil. WithSpe-
cial Referenceto the Administrationof the Marquisof Lavradio, Viceroy,1769-1779 (Berkeley:Univer-
sity of CaliforniaPress, 1968), pp. 205, 215; and memorandumduringthe governorshipof D. Rodrigo
Jose de Menezes e Castro in Bahia (1784-88) on the defense of Salvador,Accioli-Amaral,Mem6rias
Hist6ricas e Politicas, Vol. 3 (Bahia: 1931), pp. 86-87.

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34 AMBIVALENTAUTHORITIES

and advancement,led to frustrationand angeras reflectedin petitionsasking

for royal interventionto redress such injustices.Particularlypoignantis the
language of the petition (1804) by free pardos of Goias addressedto the
prince-regent.They opined they were "the most useful servantsof the state
in this colony" and that many possessed "intelligence,capabilities,and ade-
quatepreparationfor any office in the republic."Despite the royal decree of
1773 and legislation by the prince-regent,they alleged that the reality was
that in Goias pardos were seen to be fit for no service otherthan military:in
bandeirasagainst"enemiesof this colony" (Caiap6and Xavante),for expe-
ditionaryforces, and garrisonduty.Despite gubernatorialrecognitionof their
militaryprowess,they alleged thatsuch loyal servantsof the crown("os mais
humildesefi"is vassalos de VossaAltezaReal")were "scourgedby the abuse
and scorn with which they are treatedin this colony" ('flagelados das vio-
lencias e desprezocomo que sdo tratadosnesta Col6nia").49
In a society which oppressedAfrican and creole slaves and discriminated
against freed and free Africans and Afro-Braziliansfor public office, bush
captainswere free Africansor creoles employed by white settlers,by munic-
ipalities, or by officers of the crown primarily to hunt down slaves of
African descent but with ancillaryfunctions which amountedto social con-
trol of African- and Brazilian-bornslaves and free persons. Some duties
forced them to put aside whateverbondingmay have existed ethnicallyor in
termsof real or fictive kinship with those whom they had to bringto justice.
To a high degree, bush captains operated in more than one world: the
African and Afro-Brazilian,the Portugueseand Luso-Brazilian,and where
these intersected;the law enforcementofficer and the bounty hunter.Black
and mulatto militia soldiers belonged to corporate entities which were
respected. Hendrik Kraay has written of how, in late eighteenth and early
nineteenthcentury Salvador,officers and some of their subordinateswere
membersof black and mulattobrotherhoodsof lay men and women. In both
militaryservice and the brotherhoods,recordssuggest thatmembershipwas
sought after,bestowed status,and could be a family traditionin the commu-
nity of Africans and Afro-Brazilians.In urbanareas, black Henriquesmili-
tia officers were artisans.In non-urbanareas, they were farmers,sellers of
produce, engaged in local commerce, and engaged in mining. No less than
their urban counterparts,they had marketableskills, were members of a

49 Palacin, Garcia,Amado, Hist6ria de Goids em documentos,pp. 188-89, doc. 162. I am indebted

to ProfessorMary Karaschfor this referenceand for her valuablecomments on an earlierversion of this
paper.On mulatto inferioritycomplex, see Auguste de Saint-Hilaire,Voyageaux sources du Rio de S.
Francisco et dans la Province de Goyaz, 2 vols. (Paris:ArthusBertrand,1847 and 1848), vol. 2, pp. 51-
53; and Koster,Travelsin Brazil, vol. 2, pp. 208-209. For petitionsin like vein, see Russell-Wood,Black
Man in Slaveryand Freedom,pp. 90-93 and 155-56.

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 A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD 35

community,were owners of property(land,buildings,equipment,or slaves),

and-in the absence of natural or man-made disaster or sickness, could
count on a regularincome. They could have been borninto a black property-
owning class, as well as themselves having experienced social mobility.
Probably officers in pardo militia regiments had much the same occupa-
tional patternand similarnetworksin Salvadorand Recife.50 The socio-eco-
nomic status of soldiers in black and pardo militia regimentshas not been
studied, but such militia service was evidently more prestigious than the
occupationof bush captain.The natureof their employment,the low status
associatedwith their occupation,and that this may have reflected the reality
or the perceptionof their social standing, denied to capitties do mato any
sense of belonging to a corporateentity or sharingan espritde corps. Essen-
tially, they were loners and outsiders. They were not readily identified as
propertyholders. Public service was more likely to be the productof self-
interest than was the case of black and pardo soldiers. But, acceptance of
such assignments and responsibilities was an individual decision. By so
doing, the incumbent placed himself one step removed from the African
communityand became the instrumentof white interests.What the implica-
tions were in personal terms, in terms of self identity and self esteem, and
how such personswere perceived and treatedby personsof Africandescent,
we do not know.Werethey ostracized,regardedwith distrust,and victims of
retaliation,or accordedhigher social status in the African community?Or,
by their own kith and kin, were they also regardedwith ambivalence?
Governmentandgovernanceof overseasempiresby Europeannationstates
have many points in common as regardspriorities,administrativestructures,
andfunctionsof personnel.But in termsof holdingelectedor appointedpublic
office, throughoutthe AmericasAfrican andAfro-Americanfreedmenfaced
legal disabilities.In SpanishAmerica,the situationwas comparableto Brazil.
Free mulattoscould circumventlaws preventingthem from holding public
office, providedthatthe office was minor,they had the requisiteskills and, in
some cases, financial resourcesto purchasethe office, but there were also
examplesof free mulattosappointedto office on meritalone.5 In Portuguese
America,no less thanin the BritishWest Indies, FrenchAntilles and Spanish
America, free blacks and mulattos served in militia regiments.In the Por-

50 Based on Kraay,Afro-BrazilianCultureand Politics, esp. pp. 34-35. Referringto pardo militia

regiments,Kosterobserved"theprincipalofficers are men of property,"Travelsin Brazil, Vol. 2, p. 210.
Peter M. Voelz, Slave and Soldier: the MilitaryImpact of Blacks in the Colonial Americas (New York:
Garland, 1993) brings a hemispheric perspective. For the growing literatureon colonial militias, see
Kraay,Afro-BrazilianCultureand Politics, p. 51, n. 1; andA. J. R. Russell-Wood,ed., Local Government
in EuropeanOverseas Empires,1450-1800, 2 vols. (Aldershot:Ashgate, 1999), Vol. 1, pp. xlii-xlix.
51 See essays in Cohen and Greene, Neither Slave nor Free,
esp. pp. 47-49 for SpanishAmerica.

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36 AMBIVALENTAUTHORITIES

tugueseempire,nowheredid any groupof non-Europeansworkso intensively

in variousaspects of local governanceand law enforcementas did free per-
sons of African descent in Brazil. But-as observed in 1804 by pardos in
Goias-their servicesdid not receive adequaterecognitionnordid they dimin-
ish metropolitanand colonial expressionsof negative attitudestowardsper-
sons of Africandescentand towardsmulattosin particular.Nor did it occurto
Portugueseauthoritiesto permitto Africans or Afro-Braziliansany form of
governanceover theircommunities,such as occurredin Goa, Macao,Malacca
and othercities and theirimmediateenvironswhere Portuguesepracticewas
not to disruptalreadyexisting indigenoussystemsfor the collectionof tribute,
administrationof lands, and even of justice, an example followed by the
British and Frenchin India. Nor was there any Braziliancounterpartto the
Indian cabildos of Spanish America.52 There were autonomousblack and
mulattocommunitiesin colonial Brazil. Quilombosare the most self evident
example. Othersexisted, not in defiance of the law, but by force of the com-
bined circumstancesof isolation, distance, and Portuguese administrative
apathy and lack of manpower,and were more likely to be present on the
peripheriesof PortugueseAmerica,as in Goias and Mato Grosso.
Ambivalence felt by kings, governors,or municipalcouncilors lay in the
degree of jurisdictionand authoritywhich they were willing to concede to
personsof Africandescent, whom they inherentlydistrustedand over whom
they felt they did not exercise full control, but on whom they were depend-
ent. Stereotypicaland negative perceptions and attitudestowardsAfricans
and Afro-Braziliansdid not evaporate,but pragmaticconsiderationsforced
the hands of metropolitan,colonial, and municipalauthorities.It was also a
characteristicof the Portuguese empire that talented individuals or those
with special skills-albeit non-Christians and non-Portuguese-were
chosen for the royal service. In colonial Brazil, some Africans and Afro-
Braziliansovercamethe stigma of slavery to serve the crown and participate
in governanceat the local level. As such they made an importantcontribu-
tion to the "boa ordemna Reptiblica."

The Johns Hopkins University A. J. R. RUSSELL-WOOD

Baltimore,Maryland

52 Ant6nio Manuel
Hespanha, Panorama da Hist6ria Institucional e Juridica de Macau (Macau:
Facukdadede Direito da Universidade de Macau, 1994-1995), pp. 39-45; Teot6nio R. de Souza, Goa
Medieval.A Cidade e o Interiorno SdculoXVII(Lisboa:EditorialEstampa,1994), pp. 57-86. Bailey W.
Diffie and George D. Winius, Foundationsof the Portuguese Empire,1415-1580 (Minneapolis:Univer-
sity of Minnesota Press, 1977), pp. 331-334. For cabildos, see FranqoisChevalier,"Les municipalit6s
indiennes en Nouvelle Espagne, 1520-1620,"Anuario de Historia del Derecho
Espahol, 15 (1944), pp.
352-86; CharlesGibson, "IndianSocieties under Spanish Rule," CambridgeHistory of Latin America,
Vol. 2 , esp. pp. 388-95.

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