born Nov. 5, 1849, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
died March 1, 1923, Petrópolis
Brazilian orator, statesman, and jurist.
Barbosa, an eloquent liberal, wrote the constitution for Brazil's newly formed republic in 1890 and held various posts, including minister of finance, in the provisional government that launched the republic. He became a senator in 1895, and in 1907 he led a delegation to the second of the Hague Conventions , where he gained international renown for his oratory and for his defense of the legal equality of rich and poor nations. He ran for president in 1910 on an antimilitary platform, and again in 1919, but lost both times.