Slavery in an Authoritarian Republic: The Policing of Dissent and the Rise of State Slavery in Paraguay (1821–1840)

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ABSTRACT Paraguay was one of the last states to abolish slavery in the Americas. Yet the history of slavery in this landlocked republic remains understudied. Through a systematic examination of judicial evidence, this article analyzes the unique political relationship that enslaved servants built with dictator José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia. The article foregrounds enslaved people’s role in denouncing an elite conspiracy to overthrow the government in 1821 and later expressions of discontent coming from enslavers. This collaboration with the government impacted master-slave relations, as enslaved people increasingly sought the dictator’s personal intervention to confront slaveholders and spread rumours that the dictator supported them. Meanwhile, confiscations of dissidents’ properties led to the expansion of state slavery, which reverberated inside households as enslaved people appealed to this institution to deny enslavers’ property rights over them. Through these diverse strategies, enslaved people made the government’s power visible in everyday life within elite households. At the same time, by upholding Francia’s rule, they gained leverage to contest slaveholders’ authority. By illuminating the unique mechanisms through which slavery produced obedience to the government in Paraguay, this article proposes new ways to understand the uses of slavery for governance and state-building in the Atlantic world.