Ruy Barbosa, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Ruy Barbosa

Brazilian politician, writer and jurist

Date of Birth: 05-Nov-1849

Place of Birth: Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

Date of Death: 01-Mar-1923

Profession: judge, writer, lawyer, politician, minister, jurist, diplomat, translator, legal counsel

Nationality: Brazil

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio


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About Ruy Barbosa

  • Ruy Barbosa de Oliveira (5 November 1849 – 1 March 1923) was a Brazilian polymath, diplomat, writer, jurist, and politician. Born in Salvador, Bahia, he was a federal representative, senator, Minister of Finance and diplomat.
  • For his distinguished participation in the 2nd Hague Conference, defending the principle of equality among nations, he earned the nickname "Eagle of the Hague".
  • He ran unsuccessfully for the Presidency of Brazil in 1910, 1914 and in 1919. Rui Barbosa gave his first public speech for the abolition of slavery when he was 19.
  • For the rest of his life he remained an uncompromising defender of civil liberties.
  • Slavery in Brazil was finally abolished by the Lei Áurea ("Golden Law") in 1888.
  • Part of Barbosa's legacy to history is that he authorised, as minister of finance on 14 December 1890, the destruction of most government records relating to slavery.
  • The avowed reason for this destruction, which took several years to be enacted and was followed by his successors, was to erase the "stain" of slavery on Brazilian history.
  • However, historians today agree that Barbosa aimed to prevent any possible indemnization of the former slave-owners for this liberation.
  • Indeed, eleven days after the abolition of slavery, a law project was deposed at the Chamber, proposing some indemnization to the slave owners.Barbosa's liberal ideas were influential in drafting of the first republican constitution.
  • He was a supporter of fiat money, as opposed to a gold standard, in Brazil.
  • During his term as finance secretary, he implemented far-reaching reforms of Brazil's financial regime, instituting a vigorously expansionist monetary policy.
  • The result was chaos and instability: the so-called fiat experiment resulted in the bubble of encilhamento, a dismal politic-economic failure.
  • Due to his controversial role during it, in the following administration of Floriano Peixoto, he was forced into exile until Floriano's term ended.
  • Years later, after his return he was elected as a Senator.
  • He headed the Brazilian delegation to the 2nd Hague Conference and was brilliant in its deliberations.
  • As candidate of the Civilian Party in the presidential election of 1910, Barbosa waged one of the most memorable campaigns in Brazilian politics.
  • He was not successful and lost to Marshal Hermes da Fonseca.
  • He ran again in the elections of 1914 and 1919, both times losing to the government candidate. During World War I, he played a key role among those who advocated the Allied cause, arguing that Brazil should be more involved in the war.
  • Barbosa died in Petrópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, in 1923.

Read more at Wikipedia

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