“MONSTROUS AND ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS”: LAW ...

on cattle crossing the border. The imperial decision reflected not only its pecuniary needs,
but also the local efforts of Rio Grande do Sul’s saladero industry to prevent its more efficient
rivals in Argentina and Uruguay from dominating the emerging salted beef trade. 22
Whatever the reasons, ranchers in the borderlands seethed at the growing exactions
from the imperial government. By 1835, the majority of borderlands ranchers had had
enough. In September, they marched on Porto Alegre and seized the capital. Although
initially maintaining that their action was solely against the corrupt provincial president, the
growing military conflict quickly radicalized the movement. Within a year, the “Farrapos”
rebels had declared Rio Grande do Sul an independent republic, touching-off a decade-long
war throughout the Brazilian borderlands. 23
As political conflicts intensified in Brazil, factional violence likewise exploded in the
Uruguayan Republic. In 1835, Manuel Oribe was elected the young republic’s second
president. Although initially backed by Rivera, Oribe quickly came in conflict with the
Uruguayan caudillo over the latter’s continued desire to maintain control over the countryside.
When Oribe attempted to strip Rivera of his military command in 1836, the caudillo revolted.
He quickly found support from unitarists under Lavalle fleeing from Rosas in Argentina, as
well as from his Farrapos allies in Brazil. Rivera’s army donned red sashes in their campaign,
22 In the absence of refrigeration, salting represented the sole mechanism for preparing
beef products for export. Oriental saladeros along the Uruguay in particular exploited
economic connections with Brazilian ranchers in this regard. They would receive cattle from
the northern Uruguayan and Brazilian borderlands, process it, and then export it in many
cases back to Brazil. The jerked meat products primarily served to feed the large slave
populations in northeastern Brazil and around the coffee plantations in Rio de Janeiro and
São Paulo states. This trade threatened the less efficient saladeros in Rio Grande do Sul. As a
result, they lobbied the imperial government heavily for restrictions on the cross-border
trade to protect their industries.
23 Spencer L. Leitman, Raízes Sócio-Economicas da Guerra dos Farrapos: Um Capítulo da
História do Brasil no Seculo XIX (Rio de Janeiro: Edições Gral, 1979), Alfredo Varela, Revoluções
Cisplatinas e Republica Riograndense, 2 vols. (Porto Alegre: Chardron, 1915).
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