This paper discusses the relationship that exists between Brazilian republicans and the idea of the abolition of slavery. The republicans did not form a monolithic bloc; figures such as Luís Gama and Silva Jardim, for example, did not dissociate the struggle for the Republic from the struggle for Abolition, thus standin in contrast to republican landowners who, without struggling directly against Abolition, made no efforts on its behalf. The most "radical" of republicans, those who sought to associate both struggles, would eventually have to break with the official Republican movement - cases in point, Patrocínio and Gama - or collude with Republican slave and landowners - as was the case of Silva Jardim. Cissions within the more radical field of the Republican movement contributed to strengthening the more "moderate" or even the "conservative" Republican groups that came to dominate Brazilian republicanism. Our central hypothesis is that the treatment given to the issue of abolition was fundamental in determining the shape that the Republic took on in Brazil.
slavery; abolitionism; republicanism