O problema dos expostos na capitania de São Paulo

Resumo

This paper deals with the “expostos”. By “expostos” were meant illegitimate or legitimate children given up because of social, economic or moral causes, during the Brazilian colonial period. Through data colected by the main Captain (“Capitão-Mor”) Manuel de Oliveira Cardoso, in 1765, it became evident that the “expostos” were sheltered by the poorest families. There was a Legislation about the “expostos” in Portugal which was reformed by the Marquis of Pombal in 1775. Through the 1806 and 1814 acts, an extension of PombaPs rules, the “expostos” acceptance became advantageous for the head of the families. These children were considered hand labor as soon as they were 12 years old even though they worked for food and clothes since 7 years old. The government was concerned with this problem as the mortality rate was very high among them. The first man to focus attention on these rejected children, in the S. Paulo province (“Capitania”), was the General Captain Melo Castro e Mendonça, who, in 1800, sponsored the idea that the S. Paulo House of Representatives should grant a house called “Wheel House” todo receive the “expostos”. Nothing was done however during his administration. An hospital for the “expostos” was erected in S. Paulo only in 1825.