law as a sign of slavery's definitive abolition (Almada, 1984, pp. 167-174; Andrade, 1998-99, pp. 45-82; Queiroz, 1977, p. 220; Mamigonian, 2017).  
Uprisings occurred and quilombos were formed in various parts of Brazil in the final days of slavery, despite the fact these were mostly localized movements generally restricted to one or two properties and, in the months prior to abolition on 13 May 1888, mass flights from coffee farms, with or without support from abolitionist agents. There are reports of widespread conspiracies and revolts in São Paulo, little known at the time due to their silencing by the press in order to prevent panic and further incentivize rebellion. Small uprisings were common, in which slaves murdered overseers and masters, and then were delivered surrounded to the nearest police station. There were also revolts that, although quickly snuffed out, aimed to fight for freedom. In 1882, enslaved people at the Castelo farm in Campinas rebelled to the shouts of 'Kill the white man!' and 'Long live liberty!' (Machado, 1994 pp. 73, 92-94; Santos, 1980; Azevedo, 1987; Alonso, 2015, pp. 304-315).  
The push for abolition derived from slave revolts did not have to wait for the climax of abolitionist agitation in the 1880s, however. While not all of the uprisings in this era were in favour of definitive liberty, not all of the uprisings in previous eras had aimed merely to reform the conditions of slavery for those involved. Chagas, the leader of the slaves during the Balaiada movement in Maranhão, was known as the 'tutor and emperor of liberty', and he wrote in 1840 that 'the Republic is so as not to have slavery'. In 1867, also in Maranhão during a revolt in the town of Viana, fugitives from a mocambo in São Benedito occupied properties with an abolitionist agenda. One of the proclamations of the uprising was a letter the administrator of one of the affected farms was forced to write declaring: 'we'll meet in the field to discuss the liberty of the captives, as we've been waiting a long time for it [...]' (Araújo, 2008, pp. 33-34).