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It is not just that. For example if you read letters from Dom Pedro I to Dom Pedro II, and also see the opinions they had, both believed Brazillian economy was backwards and stupid, they believed strongly that it would be far more profitable, not just for the country, but even for the large landowners, if they agreed with the end of slavery, because it would create a consumer class (among other things). I also saw similar issues regarding modernization of manufacturing, with the government wanting it but the elite resisting. When the State finally ended slavery for good (after many attempts! For example one thing I was never taught in school, is that Brazil explicitly allowed England to sink Brazillian slaver ships way before slavery officially ended, as an attempt to end slavery while not antagonizing the elite), instead the elite kicked the government out and created its own. Things basically remain this way, whenever the leadership is promising, the elite kick it out somehow. |