The Spanish National Assembly decreed the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico, freeing an estimated 30,000 enslaved people on the island. Enslaved individuals were required to work for their former masters for three more years under contract, a compromise that softened resistance from plantation owners while still marking a landmark moment in the Caribbean's long struggle against slavery.
Puerto Rico's abolition came later than in much of Latin America but earlier than in neighboring Cuba, which would not abolish slavery until 1886. Decades of abolitionist campaigning, led by figures like Ramón Emeterio Betances and Segundo Ruiz Belvis, and a series of slave revolts and conspiracies had kept the issue at the forefront of Puerto Rican politics.
The law that passed the Spanish Cortes on this date required newly freed people to continue laboring for their former owners for three additional years, receiving wages for the first time but remaining tied to the same plantations. This transitional arrangement reflected the economic anxieties of sugar planters who feared a sudden loss of labor.
Still, for the roughly 30,000 people freed, the decree ended generations of legal bondage on the island. Puerto Rico's abolition became a rallying point for wider Caribbean abolitionist movements and a source of pride still marked annually on the island as Abolition Day.
Key people: Ramón Emeterio Betances, Segundo Ruiz Belvis