Very rare circular dated 4 February 1886 by the treasury of the Brazilian province of São Pedro (now Rio Grande do Sul) meant for the city officials of Rio Grande in that same province. It concerns the implementation of the Lei dos Sexagenários (or Lei Saraiva-Cotegipe), the "Sexagenarians Law" granting freedom to enslaved people aged 60 or over. In reality, enslaved people were only freed under certain conditions, such as being released only after paying compensation to their masters in the form of work or a set amount of money, unless they reached 65 years of age. This law had virtually no practical effect, since only a tiny group of enslaved people even reached the age of 60 or 65 to begin with, but it also caused enslavers to falsely register their enslaved persons as being younger than they actually were to avoid freeing anyone. Furthermore, most enslaved people that were actually freed had nowhere to go and/or had no one to turn to, since their relatives and acquaintances suffered similar fates and would most likely still be enslaved.
The present circular details the enforcement of the aforementioned conditions and the registration of enslaved people, directing officials to distribute printed forms listing the regulations for the registration and the set amounts of compensation to be paid to the enslaver based on the age of the enslaved person seeking freedom. In addition, people were only eligible to buy their own freedom if they had been registered within a year of the general publication of the law, and if they were not registered or were registered incorrectly, they would not be freed. The Lei dos Sexagenários of 28 September 1885, requiring lots of administrators to enforce it, was replaced by the Lei Áurea on 13 May 1888 by which slavery in Brazil was officially abolished. This document reflects the bureaucratic oversight and financial constraints that shaped the final years of slavery in Brazil.
With some contemporary manuscript annotations and signatures in brown ink: "Rio Grande" at the head of the page and the signature of Joaquim Antonio Vasquez among other information at the foot of the page. Further with a small (1 cm) tear in the head margin, the paper is very slightly browned and insignificantly foxed. Otherwise in good condition. Cf. the Lei dos Sexagenários itself: https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/leis/lim/LIM3270.htm.