With the headlines reading, “Long live our Free Country!”, “Free Brazil,” and “The Parties of Equality,” newspapers announced the signing of the Golden Law on May 14, 1888, which decreed the end of slavery in Brazil.
The newspaper O Paiz pointed out that after abolition, Brazil was no longer the “worldwide exception”: ours was the last country in the world to abolish slavery.
The paper, which was an explicitly pro-abolition publication since its first issue, printed that “the purest glory of abolition will certainly continue to belong to the abolitionist movement, a movement whose history has not yet been written but that has nevertheless liberated lawless provinces and convinced both parties of its ideals.” For the newspaper, those circumstances influenced Princess Isabel’s decision to sign the law while her father, Dom Pedro II, was in Portugal, leaving her as acting princess regent.
The media outlets highlighted the popular celebration on the streets and squares in the center of the country’s capital. “We’ve never seen a day like yesterday in Brazil. All Brazilians seemed to feel the enthusiasm, whether as citizens or in their hearts. We are, today, a free nation!” concluded the article.