- When things fall apart Jessica Moody, Africa is a Country
- Giving globalization a bad name Arnold Kling, askblog
- American slavery’s best essay in years Wilfred Reilly, Quillette
- Zara Steiner, historian, 1928-2020 Paul Kennedy, Financial Times
slavery
Nightcap
- Slavery and Anglo-American capitalism Gavin Wright, The Long Run
- How the law creates both wealth and inequality Adam Tooze, NYRB
- On immigration, Democrats should listen to Gorsuch Ian Millhiser, Vox
- Separatists arrested for fraud in Indonesia Arya Dipa, Jakarta Post
130 years of Republic in Brazil
Yesterday Brazil celebrated 130 years of Republic. It might be a personal impression but it seems to me that there is growing support for monarchy among conservatives. It’s very funny.
Brazil was initially a monarchy. Dom Pedro I, the prince regent of Portugal, declared Brazil’s independence from his father’s country in 1822. But he had to go back to Portugal less than 10 years later, leaving his son, Dom Pedro II, in Brazil. Dom Pedro II was too young to govern, and the 1830s were a mess in Brazil. When he effectively became emperor, things got much better.
Dom Pedro II ruled Brazil for about 50 years. To my knowledge, he was a wise man, genuinely concerned about Brazil. The 1824 Constitution was fairly liberal, and so were the emperors. Centrally, Dom Pedro II wanted to abolish slavery, but he was going against Brazilian elites on this. It’s not a coincidence that slavery was abolished in 1888 and the monarchy fell in the next year.
To my knowledge, Brazil had two good emperors and the constitution that ruled the country at that time was mostly good. However, Brazil was extremely oligarchal, and there was little that the emperors could do about that. I believe that Dom Pedro II was a wise and patient man, who slowly did the reforms the country needed.
I don’t know if Dom Pedro II’s daughter, Isabel, would have been a good empress. But I know that Dom Pedro II himself didn’t offer resistance when some republicans changed the regime. He peacefully went to exile in Europe. Dom Pedro manifested on some occasions that he was a republican. Maybe he was being ironic. Maybe not. In any case, I believe that he was glad to see the country coming to age, and being able to take care of itself without an emperor.
The first 40 years of Republic were not too bad. They were not perfect either! Slavery didn’t make a comeback. The republican constitution was written after the American one. The economy was mostly free, was it not so from the fact that coffee oligarchies ruled things to benefit their business. Things got really bad when the horrendous dictator Getúlio Vargas came to power in 1930.
I think there is something funny in the way some conservatives miss the monarchy. It wasn’t too bad. But it was also a time when Brazil suffered a lot under slavery and oligarchy. I’m certainly not sure if the monarchy was the best antidote to that.
Nightcap
- What if peasants do not want to move to cities? Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
- Mass underemployment Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
- The prospects for Islamic State Patrick Cockburn, London Review of Books
- Slavery reparations revisited Irfan Khawaja, Policy of Truth
Nightcap
- Slavery as free trade Blake Smith, Aeon
- Yay Democracy Dollars Robin Hanson, Overcoming Bias
- Edward Snowden’s education Christian Lorentzen, LRB
- American hillbillies Jacques Delacroix, NOL
Nightcap
- Why Islamic debates over slavery still matter Bruce Clark, Erasmus
- Stealing corpses in Gabon Lionel Ikogou-Renamy, Africa is a Country
- The last of the Beatniks Kaya Oakes, Commonweal
- Subscription capitalism Tim Gooding, American Affairs
Nightcap
- A German history of the Balkans Tony Barber, Financial Times
- A Brazilian history of the Atlantic slave trade Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Not Even Past
- A conservative history of America at its peak Ross Douthat, New York Times
- The emotional lives of others Andrew Beatty, Aeon
Nightcap
- Trump’s “Salute to America” is a salute to government employees Ryan McMaken, Power & Market
- Oligarchs and oligarchs Branko Milanovic, globalinequality
- The deleted clause of the Declaration of Independence Kevin Kallmes, NOL
- Class and optimism Chris Dillow, Stumbling & Mumbling
Nightcap
- A Mexican perspective on NAFTA Roberto Salinas-Leon, Law & Liberty
- Prosperity, the periphery, and the future of France Andrew Hussey, Literary Review
- The Indian Ocean slave trade Geoffrey Clarfield, Quillette
- The meaning of the exoplanet revolution Caleb Scharf, Aeon
RCH: Five facts about Emancipation Proclamation
That’s the subject of my weekend column over at RealClearHistory. An excerpt:
4. The Confederacy was, for all intents and purposes, an independent country. When Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy had long since declared independence from the United States and set up a federal government of its own. Montgomery, Ala. acted as its capital city until 1861, when the Confederacy’s government moved to Richmond, Va. Lincoln viewed Richmond’s diplomacy with the British and French as the most dangerous element of the Confederacy’s secession. If Richmond could somehow manage to get a world power on its side, the consequences for the future of the republic would be dire. For London and Paris, the calculations were a bit different. If either one joined the side of the Confederacy, the other would officially join the north and a global war could ensue. The Confederacy lobbied especially hard for the British to fight on their side, but there was one issue London’s hawks, the factions that wanted a war with Washington, couldn’t get past.
Please, read the rest.
My son is being born right about now (I scheduled this post). I hope everything goes well (it’s a c-section). Wish me luck!
Nightcap
- Welcome back, American nationalism Francis Buckley, Cato Unbound
- When belief makes reality David Riesbeck, Policy of Truth
- The slave holders on the border Melchisedek Chétima, Africa is a Country
- Yes, The Black Hole is Legit Sci-fi Rick Brownell,
MediumCosgrrrl
Nightcap
- Between populism and internationalism: conservative foreign policy after Trump Colin Dueck, War on the Rocks
- Recovering the profound divisions that led to the Civil War Gordon S. Wood, New Republic
- The private intellectual Tobi Haslett, New Yorker
- Christian humanism: A path not taken Paul Seaton, Law & Liberty
Afternoon Tea: “The Burdens of Subjecthood: The Ottoman State, Russian Fugitives, and Interimperial Law, 1774-1869”
This article analyzes the changing treaty law and practice governing the Ottoman state’s attitude toward the subjects of its most important neighbor and most inveterate rival: the Russian Empire. The two empires were linked by both migration and unfreedom; alongside Russian slaves forcibly brought to the sultans’ domains, many others came as fugitives from serfdom and conscription. But beginning in the late 18th century, the Ottoman Empire reinforced Russian serfdom and conscription by agreeing to return fugitives, even as the same treaties undermined Ottoman forced labor by mandating the return of Russian slaves. Drawing extensively on Ottoman archival sources, this article argues that the resulting interimperial regulations on unfreedom and movement hardened the empires’ human and geographic boundaries, so that for many Russian subjects, foreign subjecthood under treaty law was not a privilege, but a liability.
This is from Will Smiley, a historian at the University of New Hampshire. Here is the link.
RCH: America and Russia use to be friends
It’s true, and it’s the subject of my latest Tuesday column over at RealClearHistory. Check it out:
The two future superpower rivals had more in common than mere future greatness, though. Both were expanding rapidly, gobbling up huge swaths of territory at the expense of isolated polities like the Khiva Khanate and the Sioux confederacy, and hapless autocracies like Mexico and the Ottoman Empire. Russia and the United States also shared common foes – France and the U.K. – due mostly to the fact that American and Russian expansion was beginning to step on French and British toes. Both empires – one democratic, the other autocratic – also had looming labor crises that overshadowed everything they did in international affairs: slavery and serfdom.
Yes, I’m writing about the widely-ignored Crimean War. Please, read the rest, and don’t forget to tune in Friday for ten cool facts about the Crimean War!
Nightcap
- African-American incomes in mid-century Tom Westland, Decompressing History
- Black American Culture and the Racial Wealth Gap Coleman Hughes, Quillette
- When Black Unemployment Rates Were Equal to White Unemployment Rates… Vincent Geloso, NOL
- My Great-Grandfather, the Nigerian Slave Trader Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, New Yorker
Notes On Liberty 