abstract
In 1878, landowners from different Brazilian provinces got together in two Agricultural Congresses, one in Rio de Janeiro and the other in Recife, to assess the most pressing matters regarding the country's agricultural production. For many, free labor was one of the most serious problems. According to the majority of the participants, enacting new laws to force "bums" and "idle men" to take jobs was of the utmost urgency. In this article, we analyze certain imperial laws that regulated this matter and why farmers and employers in general considered them rather ineffective.
keywords:
Labor; Vagrancy; Free people; Laws; Brazilian empire