Ruy Barbosa

His defence of individual freedom led to his public condemning of communism and obligatory vaccinations. Barbosa was a founding member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters, alongside names such as Machado de Assis, Viscount of Taunay, Joaquim Nabuco and Olavo Bilac. He would also act as a president for the organization from 1908 to 1919. During the presidency of Floriano Peixoto, Barbosa was forced into exile due to the disastrous consequences of his policies in his time as Minister of Finance. After his exile, Barbosa ran for presidency multiple times, though, ultimately, all of this attempts would fail.

Ruy Barbosa studied at Faculdade de Direito do Recife. The recorded working language is Portuguese. Positions recorded include provincial deputy of Bahia and deputy of the General Assembly of Brazil for Bahia. Distinctions recorded are Grand Cross of the Military Order of Saint James of the Sword and Livro dos Heróis e Heroínas da Pátria.

• Name — Ruy Barbosa • Office — Judge of the Permanent Court of International Justice • Term Start — 30 January 1922 • Term End — 1 March 1923 • Predecessor — Office established • Successor — Epitácio Pessoa • Office2 — Senator for Bahia • Term Start2 — 15 November 1890 • Term End2 — 1 March 1923 • Predecessor2 — Seat established by Decree No. 510 of 1890 • Successor2 — Pedro Lago • Office1 — Vice President of the Federal Senate • Term Start1 — 25 October 1906 • Term End1 — 25 June 1909 • Predecessor1 — Joaquim Murtinho • Successor1 — Quintino Bocaiuva • Office3 — Minister of Finance • Term Start3 — 15 November 1889 • Term End3 — 21 January 1891 • President3 — Deodoro da Fonseca • Predecessor3 — Viscount of Ouro Preto • Successor3 — Tristão de Alencar Araripe • Office4 — Member of the Chamber of Deputies • Term Start4 — 15 December 1878 • Term End4 — 3 September 1884 • Constituency4 — Bahia • Born — 5 November 1849 • Birthplace — Salvador, Bahia, Brazil • Died — 1 March 1923 • Place of death — Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil • Children — 5 • Father — João José Barbosa de Oliveira • Mother — Maria Adélia Barbosa de Almeida • Party — Liberal (1871–1889) • Relatives — Marina Ruy Barbosa (great-great-great-granddaughter) • Education — Faculty of Law of Largo de São Francisco

• Illustration — A depiction of Barbosa on a stamp Rui Barbosa was born in Salvador, Bahia. He 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. He was also one of the republicanist participants in the 1889 coup to overthrow Dom Pedro II, though in later years he would praise the late deposed monarch. 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 was actually aiming to prevent any possible indemnification 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 indemnification to the slave owners.

• Illustration — Rui Barbosa on a 1986 10 Brazilian cruzado banknote 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.