Abstract

CHAVES, MARÍA EUGENIA  and  ESPINAL PALACIO, JUAN JOSÉ. Uses of the Manumission Laws 0(1814 and 1821 among the Antioquenian slaves: Examples and clues towards a research hypothesis. memorias [online]. 2020, n.41, pp.81-102.  Epub May 14, 2021. ISSN 1794-8886.  https://doi.org/10.14482/memor.41.306.36.

Two laws of slave manumission were issued in the republican New Granada, the first one in 1814, and the second one in 1821. The enslaved population made use of these legislation from the very beginning of their publication, presenting petitions of freedom before the republican tribunals, for themselves or for their offspring. In this article we intend to gather some individual cases of judicial strategies initiated by slaves in Medellín between 1815 and 1840 claiming for manumission. We will use these cases to explore the hypothesis that they function not only as examples of the capacity of slaves as litigants but also as clues of the different ways in which they interpreted the idea of freedom in the context of the construction of a new political order. In other words, we would like to explore the question about the enslaved own efforts to interpret and use the law, notwithstanding the literate mediation of lawyers and legal representatives, who composed and signed the legal documents of the trials.

Keywords : slavery 19th century; Medellín; Nueva Granada; slaves' strategies for freedom; laws of manumission.

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