1881

A law took the vote away from almost nine in ten voters.

In 1881, the Saraiva Law required voters to be able to read and write. The text was drafted by a young deputy who would become famous: Ruy Barbosa.

The country had 1.1 million voters in 1873. In 1882 there were 142,000. A drop of 87%.

Remember the 1872 Census: out of every 100 people aged 6 or older, 82 could not read.