CHAPTER 1                                                                                                                        Page 13

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The background:

The American Civil War, the decision to emigrate and the first research on Brazil

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The decision of emigration by the Americans, among them many southerners, took place only after the end of the American Civil War, the violent conflict that divided that country between 1861 and 1865, in two states: the United States of America properly said, among other words, the Union, encompassing roughly the northern states, and the Confederate States of America made up of the southern separatist states, the Confederacy.

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The war and the defeat of the Confederate forces resulted in violent changes in the economy and society of the southern states. First, its long duration resulted in the stunting of the productive forces, economic stagnation, inflation, in addition to, of course, the material, physical and moral destruction that affected its population. Economically, with the destruction, almost everything had to be rebuilt in the south. It is from there that the industry in the north took its big leap.

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It is worth remembering that the war had as an important outcome the end of slavery in the southern states, and consequently throughout the American territory, bringing about a social and economic reorganization throughout the country.

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These transformations reached the Old South more violently, since with the defeat it came to the dominance and more severe control of northerners in the period known as Reconstruction (1865-1876). During this period, the intention was to "reconstruct" the southern states, with all the meanings that this word may have. It was not just the material, physical and economic reconstruction, but an attempt to adapt the southerners to the new rules of the political game, to the new power relationship that was configured there.

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The transformations that took place in the south were often heartbreaking for southerners. Many of them, in the face of the Reconstruction reforms, the non-conformity in the face of the destruction of their way of life and even the intolerable coexistence with blacks, now free, decided on emigration. Of this contingent of emigrants, many decided to come to Brazil and, especially, to Santa Bárbara, in the interior of the state of São Paulo.

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This chapter presents the background of American immigration to Brazil. We started by presenting some important points related to the Civil War, seeking to understand the possible reasons that would have led these southerners to emigrate. We present the relevant facts that may give indications about this important decision, as well as those that may indicate the reason for choosing Brazil and, mainly, those who chose Santa Bárbara.

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Secession and the American Civil War                                                                   Page 14

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The Civil War is considered the most violent and bloody in the history of the United States of America. For four years (1861-1865), the Union and the Confederation (constituted by the southern separatist states), clashed in several battles, culminating in the victory of the Union and the end of slavery in the country.

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Union and Confederation constituted different economies, with different interests and oligarchies. The Union was formed, roughly, by the northern states, from Maine to Maryland. They devoted themselves to manufacturing and commerce, and their elite consisted of the urban middle class of artisans and professionals, and the wealthy class, generally linked to import and export trade, finance and banking. The Confederation was initially formed by the southern separatist states: Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Gradually, more states joined the Confederation, until they totaled thirteen states. The south prospered on the basis of commercial agriculture for export, first with tobacco and later with cotton, carried out with African slave labor, in the model of the large farm, plantation. Therefore, it is easy to see that the dominant class in the south was that of the great landowners and slaves, involved with the profits of the great commercial farming.

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“Thus, cotton became 'king', dominating the southern economy and society, contributing seven-eighths of the world production of this raw material, and generating almost two thirds of the income of American exports in the years 1836-40. England bought two thirds of this American cotton ... ”.

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North and south were, therefore, two distinct regions within the same country. The elites of the north and south managed to remain in balance by not entering into a direct confrontation during almost the entire post-Independence period, at least until the early 1860s. During this period, the interests of both could always be reconciled, with the adoption of various measures aimed at reconciliation.

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Thus, we can see that the simple fact that the two regions are economically and socially different, and the fact that they have different interests would not lead to a fratricidal war of such proportions. Within the same country there are always conflicting interests, with one group always trying to assert its own interests to the detriment of the other groups. However, this does not mean that civil wars are constantly occurring, and in all countries. In other words, the marked differences that marked the formation of these two regions are not enough to explain the outbreak of war. As Moore Jr recalls:

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“... there is no general abstract reason for the struggle between north and south. In other words, the presence of special historical circumstances was necessary to prevent the agreement between an agrarian society based on slave labor and a growing industrial capitalism ”.

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If the war was not primarily caused by differences over the issue of import tariffs - protectionism from the north vs. free trade in the south - access to new lands conquered in the west, relations between banks and money, and the issue of internal improvements, causes commonly cited in the bibliography, so what really motivated the war?

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The war, in fact, stems from something deeper, the question of central power. The change in the game of political forces aroused spirits in such a way that it culminated in the violent confrontation of a conflict that dragged on for four years. It was slavery that would have raised the moral issues and also the passions on both sides.

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“It is impossible to speak of purely economic factors as the main causes behind the war, just as it is impossible to speak of war as the main consequence of the different moral positions in relation to slavery. Moral issues arose from economic differences. Slavery was the moral issue that gave rise to most of the passion on both sides. Without the direct conflict of ideals about slavery, the events that led to the war, and the war itself, are totally incomprehensible. At the same time, it is clear as the sunlight that economic factors created a slave economy in the south, just as they created different social structures, with contrasting ideas, in other parts of the country ”.

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It is important to note that both Moore Jr. and Eisenberg, Goldman and Oliveira (1995) highlight the fact that slave owners were a minority in the south. However, it was a very powerful and influential minority.

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“In southern society, plantation and slave owners were a very small minority. By 1850, there must have been less than 350,000 slaveholders, out of a total population of about six million, in areas under slavery. With their families, slaveholders constituted perhaps a quarter of the white population at most. Even within this group, only a small minority owned most of the slaves: an 1860 count confirms that only seven percent of whites owned about three quarters of black slaves. ”

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According to Eisenberg, half of the slaveholders in the cotton area had between 16 and 50 slaves, and only a third of these had more than 50 slaves. Slaves represented a third of the southern population in 1860. But, even though they were a minority, this was the southern elite that also subjected a considerable contingent of small landowners in the region, who, without choice, accepted the political dominance of large planters. minority strong enough to elect 10 of the 16 US presidents, in the 76-year period between the beginning of George Washington's first presidency (1789) and Abraham Lincoln's mandate starting in 1861. Whereas of the first seven presidents, With the exception of John Adams and J. Quincy Adams, five were elected for two terms (G. Washington, T. Jefferson, J. Madison, J. Monroe and A. Jackson), plus three with a single term (Harrison -Tyler, Polk and Pierce) and Z. Taylor's short one-year presidency, the Southerners held the U.S. presidency for 53 years.

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This fact allows Moore Jr. to state that: “Slavery was certainly not about to disappear for internal reasons. (...) If slavery had to disappear from American society, only the force of arms could do it”.

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To understand the causes of war, we need to understand what has changed in the play of forces between north - or east - and south. And at that point the west played an important role. The west, around 1860, was still little occupied, but its conquest was still accelerated. The forces of this territorial expansion, always in the direction of a “moving border”, initially formed the territories that were gradually being annexed to the Union; it was these territories that ended up becoming new states. There was a clear complementarity between the northern, southern and western regions. The north provided financing, transportation, sale and insurance services for the products exported from the south (in the 1860s, cotton mainly). In addition, the south was still the buyer of manufactured goods and food from the north and west, since its economy was very specialized. Thus, part of the profits of southern farmers ended up being spent in the north and west.

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For the war to break out, it would be necessary to break this balance of forces. This balance was broken with the realignment of the regions, with the west beginning to identify much more with the north and, both, feeling threatened by the strength and the southern institutions, especially slavery. In this way, the environment of fear and mistrust against the south was created, gaining ground in Slave Power. This became the most powerful symbol of the threat posed by southern despotism and its influence, or slavery, on the government.

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In the west, two economic activities predominated: successful commercial agriculture, and livestock, both developed by free men, so that, in a short time, surpluses began to appear. The change in the consumer market for these products appears to have redirected power relations in the United States. According to Moore Jr.:

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“Until the 1830s, these surpluses were directed to the south, to feed the most specialized economy in the area, a trend that should continue, but which lost its meaning when the eastern market became more important”.

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In addition, the issue of slavery made free farmers in the West afraid, which made it possible to spread anti-slavery sentiment. The link between the industrial east and the western farmers at that time helped to eliminate the hypothesis of a direct reactionary solution to the country's economic and political problems, in favor of the dominant economic strata, and so it took the country to the extreme of a bloody Civil War.

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This imbalance ended up provoking war, according to Izecksohn, because the two political groups used the state machine as a way of maintaining their power. Through the spoil system established by Andrew Jackson, American politics did not generate an independent bureaucracy, as in Europe, for example. Government offices and posts were the prerogatives of the party in power.

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“The fundamental aspect has increasingly become the fact that the machinery of the federal government has to be used to support one society or another. That was the meaning behind such uninteresting subjects, such as the customs tariff and which put passion in the southern claim, by stating that it was paying tribute to the north. The question of central power also made the issue of slavery in the territories crucial. Political leaders knew that the admission of a state of slaves or a state of free workers would tip the scales one way or the other ”.

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To this must be added the uncertainty and mistrust between the political forces involved, proof that the forces of cohesion within the country were still very weak, which favored the outbreak of war. According to Moore Jr:

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In short, with desperate brevity, the ultimate causes of the war lay in the development of different economic systems, which led to different (but always capitalist) civilizations, with positions incompatible with slavery. The link between northern capitalism and western agriculture helped to make the characteristic reactionary coalition between urban elite and landowners unnecessary for some time and therefore the only compromise that could have prevented war (it was also the compromise that eventually ended the war). Two more factors made this commitment extremely difficult. The future of the West appeared uncertain, in order to make the distribution of central power uncertain, thus intensifying and increasing all causes of distrust and dispute. Second, as we have just noted, the main forces of cohesion in American society, although they were consolidating, were still very weak”.

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The war was the way out, north and south, to try to maintain its political power and thereby defend its institutions. The south fought for the maintenance of its economic power, its social status and, even, the maintenance of its wealth and patrimony. The same was true in the north. However, the north had opposite interests, seeking protectionism for its industry, maintaining private property and opportunities. The north also argued to fight to avoid the division of the Union, not so much because of the spirit of fraternity in relation to its fellow citizens, but because it was able to guarantee an internal market large enough for its products and not having to depend on the foreign market.

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The war broke out after the presidential elections of 1860, when Abraham Lincoln of the Republican party was elected. Even before the new president took office, South Carolina, followed by other southern states, voted for secession. Then, the Confederate States of America were created, with a new constitution and a new president: the democrat and cotton farmer Jefferson Davis.

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The Union, trying to avoid secession, sent soldiers to Fort Sumter, located in South Carolina. Before these soldiers even managed to arrive, the war started with bombing and the destruction of the fort by the separatists. At the beginning of the war, the Confederates reaped important victories. The Union used the tactic of attacking, while the south was on the defensive. To try to annihilate the enemy, the Union took control of the seas and decreed the blockade of southern ports. Thus, the south would have no help from any country and would still suffer from the lack of manufactured products, which they imported. However, without a central command, the northern troops had a confused strategy and, therefore, the war took so long to end.

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After this confused strategy, on the Union side, the commander-in-chief of the troops became General Ulisses S. Grant. Known as the “butcher”, it was he who led the north to victory.

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“Appointed commander-in-chief of all federal armies, in March 1864, Grant implemented a deadly two-purpose strategy. First, it would destroy the material base of the south and thereby the morale of the civilian population. Second, he would continually attack southern armies without worrying about northern losses, which could be replaced more easily than southern losses, which soon earned him the nickname 'the butcher'.

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On the southern side, Commander-in-Chief Robert E. Lee was responsible for the relative balance of the war until 1863. In July of that year, in an attempt to conquer Pennsylvania, the northern industrial heartland, Lee experienced defeat in Gettysburg. With the failure of the bold military action, the overthrow of the Confederates began. The war ended on April 9, 1865, with Lee signing the southern surrender at Appomatox. Five days after the end of the war, President Lincoln was assassinated.

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The population of the United States, in general, was exhausted, with hundreds of thousands of dead and disabled, and mourning marked almost every home for a relative killed in the conflict. But national unity was maintained, slavery was abolished and new legislation on the lands of the west was in force since 1863. In a quote from Eisenberg we can see the violence of this civil war.

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“The death toll helps to appreciate the magnitude of this traumatic event for the United States. It is estimated that a total of 618,000 American combatants died on both sides, a total that exceeds that of all American deaths in World War I (1914-18, with 125,000 American deaths), in World War II (1939-45, with 322,000 American deaths), the Korean War (1950-53, with 55,000 American deaths) and the Vietnam War (1961-75, with 57,000 American deaths).”

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In addition to the high number of deaths and injuries, the war brought another result that significantly affected the Southern economy and morals: the abolition of slavery. Proclaimed by Lincoln on January 1, 1863, and entering into force only in 1865, abolition gave freedom to approximately four million blacks. Farmers who owned slaves had great losses, since slaves were part of their heritage and they had no compensation. Eisenberg estimates that slave farmers lost about 46% of their total wealth through abolition.

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“Generally speaking, large and small landowners or poor southern farmers experienced severe physical destruction combined with a complete disruption of the agricultural production system. According to reports by journalists, federal officials and evangelical ministers who traveled the south in the immediate post-war period, there remained a devastated region: plantations ruined by battles, droughts that occurred in early 1866 and looting in the name of confiscation or hunger itself; the destruction of buildings on farms, roads and railways; the scarcity of cattle, mules and birds; the lack of technical and agricultural implements; the disorganization of any labor or credit system, compromising production; military occupation; high sums of debt; among others ”.

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At the end of the Civil War, the Union militarily occupied the southern states and began the period known as Reconstruction (1865-1876). During this period, the main political positions in the south were held by Union politicians, or northerners. The proud southern aristocracy had lost the power to appoint judges, tax collectors and even postmen. Blacks were included among voters, while whites who had participated in the rebellion lost their right to vote. In addition, blacks began to participate in politics. At once, the southern political order was upside down: fourteen blacks were elected as federal representatives and two as senators. One was appointed governor and six others, vice governors. Several served as state secretaries and many filled local offices.

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Conditions in the south were extremely bad for the former agrarian elite. This further hurt the pride and morals of southerners. Thus, some began to think that perhaps it would be better to restart their lives far from their homeland, in a place where they could have peace of mind and less constraints. They then went on to search for possible places where they could emigrate and rebuild their way of life. In our work, we will focus on research about Brazil, although they have also been interested in other countries, both in Latin America, especially in Mexico, in addition to Cuba and Venezuela, as well as in Europe and Canada.

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Research about Brazil                                                                                                   Page 22

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The emigration of southerners to Brazil was not an impulsive and thoughtless act. Before deciding on where to go, they sent agents to visit the great Empire of South America. They had the mission of researching the conditions of establishment, the lands, the climate, the culture, political and religious freedom, etc. . According to Weaver: “For the ex-Confederates, emigration from the United States to Brazil was not the spontaneos action of rash men; it was the result of study, thought, and deliberate planning. (…) Many Southern libraries included books on Brazil ”.

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In addition to the books on Brazil in southern libraries, Americans also had at their disposal reports of former travelers who lived or had visited and become interested in Brazil, as well as reports subsequently published by agents of emigrant associations who came here to research possible conditions of establishment. The reports made by the agents after the Civil War are extremely important, however, there are some previous works that also stand out and may have influenced the southerners. This is the case of travel reports written by Protestant missionaries in their evangelizing campaigns, such as Kidder and Fletcher, who visited the Empire of Brazil well before the Civil War.

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Daniel Parish Kidder, Methodist pastor, arrived in Brazil in 1838 as a member of a Methodist Church mission. He returned to the United States with his two children in 1840, when his wife died. In 1845 he published a book about Brazil: Sketches of Residence and Travel in Brazil.  In 1857, together with Reverend James Colley Fletcher, he wrote another book describing his experiences in Brazil. Fletcher, a minister of the American Presbyterian Church, established in Rio de Janeiro, came to Brazil in 1851. Even without any real intention, both ended up influencing southern emigration to Brazil, because through their books, southerners were able to learn a little more about the country.

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"Kidder and Fletcher, at first unwittingly, gave great impetus to the emigration movement from the South to Brazil. As the idea of leaving the country began to grow among defeated Confederates, they read avidly these accounts of Brazil, its government, its people, and its customs. New editions of Brazil and Brazilians had to be run from the press in 1866, 1867, and 1868, and these included a section with information of special interest to emigrants”.

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According to Jones, Reverend James Fletcher would have worked actively to promote the emigration of southerners, helping to establish a regular line of vapors between the two countries. The company established for this purpose was the United States and Brazil Steamship Company, subsidized, according to the author, by the governments of the two countries.

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In addition to the writings of the two missionaries, the main source of information for southerners who wished to emigrate was the reports of North American agents and individual explorers, who came to research conditions in Brazil, and which were published in the southern press. Among them, we can highlight the pamphlets of Joel E. Mathews, James Mac Fadden Gaston, General W. W. Wood, Reverend Ballard S. Dunn and Lansford W. Hastings.

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These agents came, in general, on behalf of an emigration-promoting association. Many of these associations were formed after the end of the Civil War and reflected the disillusionment and decision to emigrate from the southerners.

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“At the end of the American Civil War, aiming to develop an emigrant feeling among the southern population, several agencies were organized in most of the former Confederate States of South Carolina, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama, such such as the Florida Emigration Society and the Southern Colonization Society. (...) Seeking to convince the population towards emigration, they held public conferences and published articles in southern newspapers praising the 'atrocities' committed by the federal government, the 'unbearable' black equality, the increase in taxes, thefts and „ insults' to southern whites ”.

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These associations first established contact with the Brazilian consulates in New Orleans and New York. After a first contact and, as they received good news, they strengthened their relations and sent the agents to explore Brazilian territory. According to Zorzetto, during the second half of 1865, shortly after the end of the war, more than twenty agents arrived in Brazil to explore possible sites for the establishment of southerners. These American agents were accompanied by engineers, interpreters and guides provided by the Imperial Government and set out to search for land in the provinces of Brazil.

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“Involved throughout the 19th century with immigrant proposals as a solution for the implantation of a free labor market in Brazil, the government financed the transportation, food, guides, interpreters and provided a certain savings for agents to explore the land available for immigrants to settle. Addressing the interior of the provinces of Espírito Santo, Bahia, Pernambuco, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, they took letters of recommendation from the Minister of Agriculture to influential people in the localities. In the case of São Paulo, agents were recommended to large agricultural landowners who provided them with the necessary assistance ”.

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In the province of São Paulo, in addition to private land, agents explored vacant lands located on the coast. These lands were offered at half the price of private individuals, however, they were less fertile land and, often, subject to flooding.

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Dr. James McFadden Gaston, born in Columbia, South Carolina, was a surgeon and served as such in the Confederate army. He was the first to come to Brazil to research the conditions that would allow the establishment of the Americans. He arrived in Rio de Janeiro on September 12, 1865, and on the 21st of the same month he embarked for Santos. From there, he went to the interior of the province of São Paulo, having traveled from Jundiaí to Araraquara, when he found the General Wood, who had been in Brazil since October, going with him to Brotas. According to Goldman (1972), Dr. Gaston would have liked the land between Campinas and Araraquara, however, on learning that Wood had chosen land in the fields from Araraquara, he decided elsewhere, since he had a certain dislike for him. The curious thing is that they traveled together for several times in national territory. In addition, Wood never got to transfer to Brazil. On November 26, Dr. Gaston returned to Rio de Janeiro in the company of General Wood.61 However, he still had to see the lands on the coast of São Paulo, where he would later settle with other compatriots.

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“Gaston returned to Rio, where he was with the Nathan62 and through them met with Major Meriwether and Dr. Shaw. Together they decided to return to Santos, to go by cart and on foot to Conceição de Itanhaém. There they met with Capt. Buhlaw who came from Cananeia and said that the lands were great and transportation by sea very easy ”.

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On December 1, 1865, Dr. Gaston returned to Santos, accompanied by Robert Meriwether and Dr. Shaw. He went to see land in the Vale do Ribeira region of São Paulo. There, he met Rev. Ballard S. Dunn, who was deciding to purchase land in the region. Gaston then presented a favorable opinion to emigration to Minister Paula Souza, who ended up reserving him a piece of land in Xiririca, awaiting his arrival with some other countrymen.

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Returning to the United States, Dr. Gaston published a book entitled Hunting a home in Brazil, in which he sought to present all the facilities and opportunities existing in the country, in order to try to convince his compatriots to transfer their residence here. According to Jones and Goldman (1972), Dr. Gaston sponsored the arrival of a hundred emigrants from South Carolina. However, as presented by Oliveira (1995), Dr. Gaston would have established himself in Xiririca with seven more compatriots. One of those compatriots was João Ridley Buford, who was Gaston's partner in his business. According to Jones, in April 1868 they had already traded thirty-six rolls of tobacco, a load of mate and another of bacon. The Demaret family also settled near Gaston, and already on their arrival they bought a family of slaves (father, mother and son) . However, with the breakdown of the colony, Gaston, Buford and Demaret came to the Santa Bárbara region. Gaston lived in Campinas; Buford and Demaret in Santa Barbara. João Ridley Buford even named one of the central streets of Santa Bárbara.

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General W.W. Wood, before the Civil War, had served as a lawyer and journalist in Mississippi, and like Dr. Gaston, was one of the first agents to visit Brazil on behalf of a group in order to gather more specific information about the country. Boarding the Montana ship in New York, he arrived at the port of Rio de Janeiro on October 3, 1865. On October 12, he took a steamer to Santos, looking for places to establish southerners in the province of São Paulo. On November 26 he left Santos for Rio de Janeiro, and in his company, aboard the ship Santa Maria, was none other than Dr. James McFadden Gaston. Wood was very well received by the Emperor, who introduced him to the Minister of Agriculture Paula Souza. He returned to the United States on board the ship South America on January 2, 1866. There he published a book with the title Ho! For Brazil, encouraging its compatriots to emigrate. We couldn't find that book, or maybe a pamphlet. Not even the relevant bibliography on the topic has been able to find it. However, we know that Wood did not promote, as the leader of a group, the emigration of southerners to Brazil. According to Weaver: “Instead of returning to Brazil as the leader of a great emigration movement, he settled down as a country attorney in Adams County, Mississippi.”  In the records of passenger movements at the port of Rio de Janeiro, compiled by Betty Antunes de Oliveira, there is no record of Wood after his return to the United States, on January 2, 1866, indicating that he did not return to the country. His incentive for emigration was limited to the publication of a book, and he himself did not decide to emigrate. According to Hill:

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“One of those men commissioned by others to come and investigate local conditions was General W. W. Wood, from Mississippi, who had lived in New Orleans for many years. Dr. James McFadden Gaston met him in July 1865 in New Orleans and he told him that he was representing 500 families. A lawyer, editor, and great orator, General Wood was so outspoken that he managed to get 19 emigration companies, representing 7 states, to put luck in his hands. Representing so many people and wearing a coat and top hat, he arrived here as a great character, was received with the greatest honors and adulation by the government. The music band came to greet him and they played 'Dixie', the official anthem of the south, they fired rockets, they made banquets, they rang bells ... A carriage was put at their disposal for trips to the interior, interpreters were provided and beasts of cargo for the immense luggage. In Araraquara, Brotas, Botucatu, wherever he went, he was received with the greatest honors, but, apparently, it was a lost effort on the part of the Brazilians, as nothing resulted from all this except the great tour that the general did ”.

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Regarding Reverend Ballard S. Dunn, we know that he arrived in Brazil on October 28, 1865, on board the ship Adelaide Pendergast. He visited lands in Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo and the coast of São Paulo, having met McMullan, Bowen and Gunther in the latter province. Upon returning to the United States, he published the book entitled Brazil, the home for Southerners, encouraging the arrival of southerners to Brazil. On the cover of this book there is an indication that Dunn was part of the Confederate army. Dunn came to Brazil in 1867, accompanied by approximately 150 compatriots, where he formed the group called Lizzieland, in the Ribeira Valley.

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Robert Meriwether and Dr. H.A. Shaw represented the Southern Emigration Society, of Edgefield, South Carolina, one of the most well-known associations in the United States and abroad. They arrived in the port of Rio de Janeiro from New York on board the ship North America, on November 26, 1865. From there they went to Santos, on the ship Santa Maria, on December 1, 1865, accompanied by Dr. James McFadden Gaston. They returned from Santos to Rio de Janeiro on February 21, 1866, and must have immediately embarked for the United States. Upon arriving, they published the results of the surveys in an Edgefield newspaper. Through the documentation searched in the 1st Registry From Notes of Santa Bárbara d'Oeste, we know that Robert Meriwether emigrated to Santa Bárbara. It is his first deed of purchase and sale registered with the municipality's registry office, among North American immigrants. Meriwether came to Brazil with his family on board the ship Douro, arriving in Rio de Janeiro on September 1, 1866. On the 6th of the same month he took the ship Pirahy to Santos. From there he went straight to Santa Bárbara, where he bought, on October 28, 1866, a farm of 315 fathoms from Joaquim de Godois Bueno and his wife, and from Firmino de Godois Bueno and his wife, for two contos de réis.

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Lansford Warren Hastings also came to Brazil to research the conditions of establishment, however, unlike other agents, he sought land in the province of Pará. In the United States he published the book The Emigrants Guide to Brazil. We did not have access to this book, but we know that in 1867 and 1868 Major Lansford Warren Hastings established a group in Santarém, with about 300 compatriots.

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In addition to these agents representing pro-emigration associations, we met some other southern farmers who came and did research on the conditions of establishment. Among them are Frank McMullan and William Bowen, Charles Gunther and Joel Mathews.

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Frank McMullan and William Bowen were farmers in Texas, and, according to Jones: “McMullan was a six-foot-tall boy with a lung condition, very easy on languages; and Colonel Bowen was a veteran of three wars: that of Mexico, the Indians and the Civil War. ” On December 9, 1865, they arrived in Brazil, on the same ship where farmer Charles Gunther was accompanied by his four children.  McMullan and Bowen explored lands close to the ones Dunn had chosen to form Lizzieland, in Iguape, with the guarantee of the Brazilian government that they would be guaranteed the same advantages given to Gaston and Dunn: as a provisional title to the land, measurement and demarcation, exemption from taxes for agricultural implements, manufactures and machines, in addition to accommodation on behalf of the government, upon arrival.

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“McMullan and Bowen chose lands in the Rio Juquiá basin, in the Province of São Paulo, returned to Rio, made their report to the government on May 24, 1866, naturalized Brazilians; then McMullan returned to the United States to take care of the settlers' transport, while Bowen stayed to provide his accommodation. ”

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McMullan and his countrymen's return trip to Brazil was very troubled. The ship wrecked off the coast of Cuba, and migrants lost most of their belongings. They had to return to the United States and wait another month there to get another ship. Eventually they ended up on the same ship as Gaston and his settlers, North America, and settled near Dunn's land in Iguape. Frank McMullan, a victim of tuberculosis, died about six weeks after arriving in the Valley of the Ribeira, at Colonel Bowen's house, his friend and partner. According to Betty Antunes de Oliveira, as Brazilian law did not allow burials of non-Catholics in government cemeteries, a family of German immigrants was willing to bury him in the your property's backyard.

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According to Goldman (1957), those who followed Dr. Gaston were a little luckier at first, but the colony did not prosper, even though the land was good and the plantations made promised excellent harvests. And this is for the simple reason that “the land demarcated by them was required by Brazilians, the roads promised [by the government] were never built and the crops were never sold”. Thus, the families of Dr. Gaston's colony were dispersed; some returned to the United States, others would have mixed completely with the Brazilian population and still others would have gone to Campinas, as in the case of Dr. Gaston himself. In our research we found no record of his establishment in the Santa Bárbara region, except an 1885 record, in which the doctor paid the taxes for an animal to the Santa Bárbara City Council.

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On the same ship as Frank McMullan and William Bowen, on December 9, 1865, was also Charles Grandison Gunther, a southern farmer born in North Carolina, but who lived in Alabama, where he had already been elected deputy. He traveled through several Brazilian provinces, having enjoyed the lands located in Espírito Santo, on the banks of the Doce River. Having arranged everything with the Brazilian Government, he returned to the United States and brought four hundred compatriots with him.

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Finally, we have the curious figure of Joel E. Mathews, a farmer from Alabama who came to Brazil on June 13, 1866, on board the ship Izabella. On that same ship was Harvey Hall, a member of the group of emigrants who settled in Santa Barbara. Arriving in Rio de Janeiro, he embarked a few days later for Santos, on the same ship that Charles Gunther was on. Joel returned to the United States on October 6, 1866, and in 1867, the Daily Times of Selma, Alabama, published his reports under the title Brazil: Reflections on the Character of the Soil, Climate, Inhabitants, and Government. Its objective was to disseminate characteristics of the country that could be interesting to farmers interested in emigrating to Brazil.

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“Joel E. Mathews represented the aristocracy of Alabama cotton planters both in education and wealth. A native of Georgia, he acquired degrees in law and medicine from the University of Virginia, settling in Alabama about 1831. In 1860 he owned 284 slaves and a plantation of over 6,000 acres valued at $152,625, while his personal property was appraised at $404,760. He contributed $15,000 for the defense of the state after its secession and equipped several military companies at his own expense”.

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We did not have access to the original, however, from the quotes presented by Barbara Stein, we can see that Joel's considerations included the maintenance of the slave system in Brazil, which would be a positive point and an attraction for ex-confederates. More than that, we have in Mathews an authentic member of the southern elite, so it is clear from his background and his properties, whose highlight is a squad of 284 captives.

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“Mathews had set out from Selma in 1866 to „seek a new Home, because of the utter and entire disorganization of the system of labor to which I have been accustomed‟. He sought „a climate where I could plant and grow cotton… also, land, at once cheap and fertile‟ with the „same system of labor (African slavery), and many of the peculiarities of social society which result from the ownership of slaves, which to me are so pleasant and agreeable and to which I had been all my life accustomed”.

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However, Mathews did not hide his fear that emancipation could occur in Brazil; he believed, however, that abolitionism was not yet a strong movement in the country.

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“Emancipation was especially to be feared in Brazil „because the desire to have it done stimulated by that feeling which the Author of all sin has found means by which to infect to some degree most of the human family… (and which) is called in this country Democracy, in the Brazil it is called Liberalism – and in England it is called Reform – all men are of their party who think that all men are equal… Like all things which come from Satan, this is often shown in the world under many pleasing and alluring devices, first it shows a Banner inscribed with Liberty, Fraternity and Equality with the rights of man as a bar sinister. Next it appears with a banner on which is inscribed Paper money, Railways and the development of the resources. With the destruction of the right of property as a bar sinister… when seen in its third and last phase it waves a blood-red banner, with the words: Rapine, Robbery and Blood…”.

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Barbara Stein, in her research, was unable to find out whether Joel E. Mathews emigrated to Brazil. In our research, there were also no records of Mathews living in Brazil and, mainly, in Santa Bárbara. After his return to the United States in October 1866, there is no record of Joel Mathews arriving at the port of Rio de Janeiro again.

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According to Weaver (1961), these books that were published in the southern press had a lot in common and, mainly, they were all very optimistic about Brazil.

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“There was great similarity in all of these books. They contained brief statements on the history and government of Brazil, accounts of the agents‟ welcome to and travel in the country, glowing descriptions of the land and the people, of opportunities available for immigration, and of inducement offered by the government, and, finally, details of the particular project in which the author was interested. Each had the limitations of hastily written accounts based on superficial surveys of a foreign country, but the men who wrote were interested in Brazil, and their enthusiasm was limitless”.

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Another farmer who came to research the conditions of establishment in the country, but without representing a group and having not published any books with the results of his research, was Colonel William H. Norris, who came on his own, with his son Robert, to explore lands in Brazil. Departing from New York on the ship South America, they landed at the port of Rio de Janeiro on December 27, 1865. On January 6 of the following year, they went to Santos on board the Pirahy, from where they left to explore lands in the interior of the province from São Paulo, deciding to settle in the Santa Bárbara region, in the place where the city of Americana is today. As soon as they were comfortably settled, they sought the rest of the family that landed in the port of Rio de Janeiro on April 19, 1867. Colonel Norris encouraged other compatriots to emigrate as well, through letters sent to friends and other family members, talking about their success in the new land.

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But the Norris were not the only ones to encourage other compatriots to come to Brazil. As other groups were establishing themselves, and having relative success in this new endeavor (or just a relief to escape the sad circumstances in which they found themselves in the United States), more propaganda was being done and more North Americans decided to emigrate to Brazil.

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“As the first colonists began to reach their new homes, another medium of information about Brazil materialized, letters from and articles about Brazil sent back to the Southern newspapers. The emigrants wrote voluminous letters to friends and kin people, expressing either the joys and the disappointments connected with their new venture”

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The efforts of the Brazilian Imperial Government                                            Page 34

and associations promoting immigration in Brazil.

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With regard to the position of the Imperial Government in the case of American immigration or colonization, it is necessary, first of all, to understand two moments. In the first, which corresponds to the 1850s, there was a fear of the American presence. More specifically, in the case of the opening of the Amazon River - an issue that also involved neighboring countries such as Peru, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela - and, even in the establishment of colonization centers, also of North Americans, in that region. In the April 1854 session of the Council of State, this is quite clear. In the first place, there was a concern that what happened with Mexico at the end of the previous decade was repeated, where since 1821, with permission from the Mexican government, American colonists began to occupy part of its territory. A few years later, this region was declared independent under the name of Republic of Texas, with the clear purpose of joining the United States of America, which really happened in the late 1840s, after the war between Americans and Mexicans. . At the end of the conflict and victorious, the United States expanded its southwest, to the detriment of Mexico, still occupying the territories of California, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and part of Colorado.

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In the same way, what had happened in neighboring Colombia, when American colonists emigrated to Nova Granada (1840), where they were very well received, as the young Republic believed that they could take advantage of “their capitals and their industries”. . In September 1850, these same settlers promoted “a revolution intended to overthrow the government and establish a new state, with the name of New Columbia”.

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That same session recalled the aggressive speech by American President Franklin Pierce, when he took office, in early March 1853:

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“My administration's policy will not be influenced by the timid predictions of the evils of expansion. In truth, it cannot be hidden that our attitude as a Nation, and our position on the globe make the acquisition of certain possessions that are not within our jurisdiction, eminently important for our protection, if for the future it is not essential to maintenance the rights of trade and peace in the world ”.

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Emphatically, the new president also assured, that: "The rights of each citizen in their individual capacity in the country or outside it must be sacredly maintained, with the proud awareness that they are a citizen of a nation of sovereigns".

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Finally, the councilors understood, according to the Council's opinion, that American immigration, and especially in the case of the Amazon region, “would be an immense danger”, because before it, “our race, our language, our religion and our laws. Active and bold, [the Americans] aided by their government, would remove all competition from our inhabitants, or subject them ”.

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In this picture, there is no way to forget the intriguing figure of Matthew Fontaine Maury, lieutenant of the North American Navy, mixed military, scientist, businessman and visionary. As a man of the south, since he was born in Virginia, Matthew was fully aware of the problems that afflicted the southern economy, and since the early 1850s, he began to alert his fellow citizens about the potential of the Amazon, whose colonization should be made by United. In the context marked by the spread of the doctrine of Destiny Manifesto, the imaginative Matthew in his studies came to several conclusions. The first was that the Amazon River, the Caribbean and the West Indies were part of a true “American Mediterranean”, while the second was the possibility of colonizing the Amazon territory with black Africans; evidently, these were slaves or blacks freed from the south, in view of the abolition of slavery in the United States. As for the first, and as part of the ardent North American expansionism at that time, Matthew advocated opening up to free navigation and trade on the Amazon River, at the time closed to foreign navigation. As for the colonization of the region, it should be developed by the United States, and who knows, in the form of a slave-owning empire. These pretensions, taken over by politicians and factions of the North American government, had a negative impact on the Empire and generated deep unease, since they were understood as a threat to Brazilian sovereignty.

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It is curious that ten years before the Civil War, an American was enthusiastic about the potential of the lands of the Amazon region, its climate and its supposed fertility and carried out a campaign with American politicians and authorities to carry out this project; a project exposed in the book The Physical Geography of the Sea, authored by Lieutenant Maury himself, published in 1855 and which marked his time. The most curious thing is that, at that moment, it might not have crossed anyone's mind that Brazil could be the refuge of white Americans, desiring to preserve their world or build a new one, even if they had to abandon their land.

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In the second moment, which corresponds to the 1860s, fears would give way to hope and, especially from 1865, when the American Civil War came to an end, and among the southerners the defeat was already presented as an accomplished fact . Based on that, from what can be seen from the reading of documents and ministerial reports from the Empire, as well as from the manifestations of politicians, the arrival of Americans as immigrants was viewed with good eyes; more than that, even with a lot of hope. Just look at the Reports of the Ministry of Agriculture, Trade and Public Works, which since 1866 have started to present in the title that dealt with “immigration and colonization” a subtitle dedicated to “North American immigration”. From that year on, it can be said that the imperial government sought to offer - or at least promised to offer - numerous benefits and advantages to those who expressed the desire to immigrate. The excerpt from the 1867 ministerial report, does not hide the rejoicing at the North American presence:

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“It is recognized, as it is, that the most convenient immigration to Brazil is made up of individuals dedicated especially to agricultural life, the government, hurrying to assist the desire expressed by several inhabitants of the American Union, to move to the our country, aimed at those of the southern states in which that remarkable circumstance stands out. As a guarantee of their permanence on Brazilian soil, the political reason that acts in their spirits to expatriate expands ”.

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There were many advantages offered to the Americans interested in emigrating to Brazil, by the responsible authorities (in this case, the Ministry of Agriculture): provisional title of the land, term for payment of plots at affordable prices, measurement and demarcation of the land offered by State, exemption from taxes for agricultural implements or machines they brought with them, accommodation on behalf of the Imperial Government when they arrived here and, in some cases, the payment or advance of their tickets here.

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Despite the lack of definition of the Empire's immigrant policies, there was a great effort by many politicians of the time to make foreign immigration a reality, and in particular the North American one. In the 1850s, with the prohibition of trafficking, it was clear that slavery was entering a process of slow decomposition, and attracting the foreign settler was a solution to the labor problem. In the 1860s, immigrant associations were organized to which important figures of Brazilian politics became attached, and, in the North American case, the role of Tavares Bastos, promoter and member of the International Immigration Society, created in 1866, must be highlighted. in Rio de Janeiro. A deputy for the province of Alagoas and a member of the Liberal Party, Bastos was a great admirer of the Americans and their political and economic experiences, the United States of America having exercised a strange fascination on him since his college days and, mainly, on the works by Alexis de Tocqueville, whom he knew so well. For this reason, his writings that so exalt the great North American Republic have felt:

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“I am a frantic enthusiast from England, but I only understand the greatness of these people well, when I contemplate the Republic that it founded in North America. It is not enough that we study England; you have to know the United States. It is precisely from this last country that more practical experience can come to us in the interests of our agriculture, our economic circumstances, which have, with those of the Union, the most vivid similarity ”.

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Tavares Bastos was an immigration enthusiast, criticized the timidity of Brazilian politics and confessed his belief in the “races” coming from Europe. According to him:

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“And I know of nothing but an effective means for that, namely, frankly opening the doors of the Empire to foreigners, placing Brazil in the closest contact with the virile races of the north of the globe, facilitating internal and external communications, promoting immigration German, English and Irish, and enact laws for the fullest religious and industrial freedom ”.

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It is also noticed that, as a proponent of liberal thought, he saw the subordination of the Church to the State as an obstacle to the arrival of immigrants. An example of this is the maxim "Free Church in a Free State", attributed to him, as a staunch defender of freedom of worship, without restrictions, which would come from the separation of Church and State. Among other writings, his admiration for the United States is clear in the work “The evils of the present and the hopes of the future”, or even summarized in the famous sentence attributed to him: “Do we want to arrive in Europe? Let's get closer to the United States. It is the closest way to this curved line ”. For him, therefore, it was not enough to Europeanize the country; it was necessary to bring the settler of Anglo-Saxon origin and along with him, the light of Protestantism.

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During the 1860s, at the same time that it received foreign agents in Brazil, the Imperial Government sought to maintain Brazilian agents in the United States, with the mission, among others, of offering initial information to those interested in emigrating, as well as establishing the first contact between the agents of southern emigrant associations and the Brazilian Minister of Agriculture. The best known agent was Quintino Bocaiúva, based in New York, who, in case of need to leave, to come to Brazil, for example, was replaced by the dealer Domingos de Gricouria.

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“In addition to consular officials, to inspect the import contract and the transport of immigrants, the journalist and member of an immigration support association at the Quintino Bocayuva court was chosen by the shipping company and authorized by the imperial government. As it was mandatory for immigrants to embark at the port of New York to obtain financing for tickets, that colonization agent installed his office at the Brazilian consulate in that city in September 1866 ”.

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Brazilian agents tried in every way to encourage emigration from the North American South. However, the incentives offered were to some extent exaggerated (or too generous) and as a result, not only southerners disillusioned with the war decided to emigrate. Weaver (1961) mentions that some Germans and Irish, newcomers to the United States, also decided to embark on this adventure.

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“When Bocayuva opened the emigration agency in New York and announced a generous offer of passage and land, more than one thousand persons presented themselves as prospects within the first week. Four hundred of these were Germans and Irishmen who had just arrived in America”.

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Among the incentives offered by the Imperial Government, as mentioned, were advance travel in the United States, measurement and demarcation of land in Brazil, transportation to vacant lands purchased in installments from the Government, etc. The installment payment of the land was made in up to five years, and the immigrant received the provisional title of the land on his arrival.

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“According to each contract concluded between the agents and the imperial authorities, they would supply a steam for every two rented by the agents for the transport of immigrants; measurement and demarcation of the chosen lands; exemption from paying customs taxes on agricultural tools and implements brought by immigrants; free transportation between the port of landing and the colonies; supply of food for six months; construction of temporary accommodation and communication routes ”.

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“Contracts were all in principle the same, varying only in minor details. Loans for transportation were made, usually allowing the colonist five years in which to repay. Contracts guaranteed free entry of personal belongings and agricultural implements, board and lodging for twenty days in Rio, and free transportation to a second destination. The agent obtained provisional title to the colonization site with the right to determine the purchasers. The head of a family received one square mile of land and a single person one half of that amount, the price, including surveying, ranged from twenty-two to forty-two cents an acre. Individuals could obtain permanent title upon payment of the total amount, with five years as the usual time limit. Some contracts provided that the government would build a temporary shelter at the site of the colony and furnish provisions for a stated time, for which the colonists would eventually pay”.  

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As the Imperial Government was interested in bringing in farmers, it also offered them an exemption from paying taxes on the agricultural tools they brought. What bothered the Government most was the fact that few southern farmers were immigrating. According to the 1867 Ministry of Agriculture report, this problem occurred because immigrants, in order to obtain the facilities promised by the Imperial Government, had to embark in the port of New York, which, in addition to being costly, exposed them to contact with northerners.

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“It follows that few are encouraged to seek that port to continue their journey in demand from Brazil; and however strong their penchant for this country, they postpone or renounce the idea of ​​change.”

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“The fact confirmed this truth. Of the immigrants who arrived here on board of that company, few were from the south: most of them were foreigners who had just arrived in the north, or individuals who had no propensity for rural habits. This was certainly not the most useful immigration to the country ”.  

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In addition, not all emigrants were peaceful and there were some problems after their arrival in Brazil.

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