Background
Ruy Barbosa was born on 5 November, 1849 in Salvador.
Ruy Barbosa was born on 5 November, 1849 in Salvador.
Entered law school in Recife but transferred to Sao Paulo, where he received his degree in 1871.
Entering politics in his native state, he was elected congressman in 1878 for the Liberal Party. As the empire was disintegrating, Dom Pedro II in 1889 offered him a post in a Liberal Party cabinet, which he refused. Barbosa had become a convert to Republicanism.
On the fall of the empire in November, Ruy Barbosa became finance minister of the provisional government, and attempted to encourage capital formation by freer emission of bank notes and loosening of credit.
When a revolt against the army presidents broke out in 1893, Barbosa was accused of siding with the navy rebels and went into exile. From England he wrote a series of letters commenting on Brazilian affairs which were considered brilliant.
Upon his return to Brazil, he was elected senator from Bahia in 1895. In 1907 he was made Brazilian delegate to the Hague Conference where he put on a dazzling performance demanding equality for all nations on the international arbitration court. He had acquired an international reputation as a statesman and jurist.
In 1910, when the major political party selected a general to run for president, Ruy Barbosa threw his hat in the ring and attempted unsuccessfully to rally the country behind his campaign to keep army officers out of politics. In 1918 he again made a half-hearted bid for the presidency and was deleated.