Caribbean History SBA

Emancipation Of Slavery

Caribbean History School Based Assessment

Candidate Name: Martin RobinsonSubject: Caribbean HistoryName of School: Eltham High SchoolCentre #:Candidate #:Territory: JamaicaTeacher’s Name: Mrs. DoctorYear of Examination: 2016

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AcknowledgementFirst of all I would like to thank god for giving me the strength and helping me to obtain the

information I need to complete this S.B.A. Also, I would like to thank my parent for helping me

to put in the hard work into this assignment. Secondly I would like to thank my fellow

schoolmates for encouraging me to do this at the best of my ability and sitting with me each day

to ensure that I complete my S.B.A correctly. Last, I would also like to thank my teacher for

giving me the opportunity to select this topic which I have learnt many a lot during my research.

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Table of Content

THEME/QUESTION…………..……………………………………………………………….…1

RATIONALE……………………………………………………………..………………………….1

PRESSURE GROUPS………………………………………………….........……………………2

HUMANITARIANS/ABOLITIONIST……….……………………...….…………..…..…..4

ARGUMENTS TO SUPPORT/AGAINST SLAVERY…………….………….…....……6

ABOLITION MOVEMENT IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 1769-1832…..17

FINAL STEPS ABOLITION…………………………………….…….……..…………….…..11

AMELIORATION………………………………………………………………………………….12

THE EMANCIPATION ACT 1833……………………………………….……………...…..13

THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEM…………………………………….……………...…….16

CONCLUSION……………………………………………..………………….……………………18

BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………....………..19

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THEME“The Emancipation of Slavery”

QUESTIONCan it be proven that as a result of the influence of the pressure groups and abolitionists/humanitarians’ slavery was abolished?

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RATIONAleThe reason the researcher chose this topic is because of his curiosity towards finding out if the

Pressured groups and humanitarians are really the ones who brought an end to slavery. Even

though the maroons were the first set of freed slaves they weren’t the ones who brought an end to

slavery. The pressured groups and humanitarians helped with the emancipation of the slave trade

but this assignment is to conclude if they are the ones who brought a complete end to the

abolition of slavery.

It was said by Dr. Eric Williams “it challenges one-hundred years of British imperial

historiography by making the controversial argument that the causes of abolition and

emancipation were economic, not humanitarian.” According to CXC History Workbook chapter

5, for over three hundred years vested interests kept both slavery and the slave trade going

regardless of the evils entailed. In the course of the 18th Century, however, Christians in Europe

became increasingly conscious of all the evils which arose from slavery and the slave trade.

Some became convinced that it was their Christians duty to set the Negros slaves free.

Slaves had a passionate desire for freedom but did the humanitarians and pressure groups fetch

it for them? This is the main question the researcher is curious towards finding out but this

question will be answered in this assignment. Therefore I will expound on what are Pressured

groups and humanitarians, also to enhance your knowledge about the emancipation of slavery.

As you read along you will ascertain whether the pressure groups and humanitarians brought

emancipation to slavery.

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PRESSURED GROUPSDefine Pressured groups - Pressured groups are groups that influenced the freedom of the enslaved.

THE BEGINNING OF PRESSURE GROUPS IN THE CARIBBEANIn the 17th - 18th century a number of groups were formed which supported the emancipation of

slavery. They were known as Pressured groups, most of them were religious in nature these

included:

Quakers

According to Brian Dyde, Robert Greenwood and Shirley Hamber, the Quakers acted as a

pressure group in the movement for the abolition of slavery. Until 1755 Quakers could legally

own slaves, but it was against the principle of many to do so. In 1755 they were forbidden to do

so by rules of their society, and they were required to use all of the force to bring about abolition.

The Clapham Sect, or ‘The Saints’

The Church of England was the established church of Britain and her colonies. In Britain it was

associated with the landowning gentry and the Tory party, and in the West Indies it was the

church of the planters. In both Britain and the West Indies, it kept aloof from the abolition

movement.

In the 18th century an evangelical movement grew up within the Church of England. The

members wanted less emphasis on salvation through good works and morality. One group in this

movement known as ‘The Clapham sect’, or ‘The Saint’, because they worshipped at the church

of the Reverend John Venn in Clapham in south London between 1792 and 1813. Among them

were William Wilberforce, Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, James Ramsay, James Stephen

and Zachary Macaulay, all famous names in abolition. Three of these men had considerable first-

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hand experience of the evils of slavery. Ramsay had been a clergyman in St. Kitts for nineteen

years, Stephen a lawyer in St. Kitts for ten years and Zachary Macaulay the under-manager on a

Jamaican sugar estate for four years. They gave practical, supporting evidence to the other

members of the sect, especially those in Parliament, who had considerable influence in public

affairs. In Parliament the contribution of the Saints to abolition was great, and they

complemented the Quakers who had done so much to arouse public opinion in the same cause.

Another group was the industrialist but they were not really seen as pressure group because they

did not necessarily want slavery to end but they wanted their crops to be sold. They didn’t want

slavery to end because they saw it as inhumane.

Non-Conformist Missionaries

According to Nadine C. Atkinson, the Christian denominations which broke away from the

Anglican Church’s mode and methods of worship were known as Non-Conformist Missionaries.

They included the Baptists, Wesleyans, Quakers, Presbyterians and Methodists. By 1831 several

denominations were working in the British West Indies. They all came to the West Indies as

missionaries seeking to bring the gospel to the slave populations. They faced great persecution

by th planters who recognized that their message of equality and brotherly love was essentially

undermining the slave society and the basis of slavery.

Humanitarians/abolitionists3


ABOLITIONISTS- According to The Caribbean History Pocket Encyclopedia (by Nadine C.

Atkinson) abolitionists is a varied group of agitators who fought for the abolition of the slave

trade and later on the abolition of slavery. They were also called the Anti-Slavery Society.

Humanitarians are health inspectors who were similar to Pressured groups. These humanitarians

include Granville Sharp, James Ramsay, James Stephen, Zachary Macaulay, Thomas fowell

Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Thomas Buxton. They believed that slavery was morally

wrong and that the enslaved were to be treated as human beings. Even though the Humanitarians

and pressured groups were fighting to bring an end to slavery persons were also fighting against

them. There was one group in particular who brought competition to them, this group was ‘The

West India Interest’, the strength of the movement against slavery took them suddenly by

surprise. As late as 1783, they were chiefly concerned with the resumption of trade between with

the West Indian colonies and the newly independent United States, and won concessions from

the government to partially reopen this trade. In the same year Lord North, the ex-Prime-

Minister, said “it would be impossible to abolish the slave trade for it was a trade which had in

some measure become necessary to every nation in Europe”. When the West India Interest

realized the threat presented by the abolitionist and the pressured groups they made slavery their

chief concern and managed to defer abolition until 107. They began with a campaign of serious

counter-propaganda in 1792. Its members organized their own opposition in Parliament and

printed their own pamphlets for circulation. They found it difficult to attack Wilberforce, as he

was such a respected figure, and concentrate their attack on people like Reverend James Ramsay

who had just published an essay on ‘The Treatment and Conversion of African Slavery in the

Sugar Colonies’. They spread tales, accusing Ramsay of depravity in St. Kitts, and poured scorn

on his part in the abolitionist campaign. By the beginning of the 19th century, though, they

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realized that the battle was lost in the House of Commons. After that they relied on the House of

Lords to delay the inevitable for as long as possible. (By Dyde, Greenwood, Hamber 2003)

A motif of the British anti-slavery society

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ARGUMENTS TO SUPPORT SLAVERY The Europeans taught that the Africans weren’t ready for socialization.

They taught that blacks were inferior and whites were superior.

Whites saw themselves as superior (wealthy).

ARGUMENTS AGAINST SLAVERY

The humanitarians taught that slavery was morally wrong.

Slavery was inhumane and everyone was equal.

Every man/woman was born free.

Slavery led to a Mona culture society which was dangerous to the economy.

The profits of plantation owners were not reinvested in the local economy but spent

abroad.

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THE ABOLITION MOVEMENT IN THE BRITISH WEST INDIES 1769-1832

The abolition movement began during the period of the 17th century in the British West Indies. In

1769 it was calculated that there were about 15,000 slaves living in Britain valued at around

700,000 pounds. These slaves were brought to Britain by their masters from the Caribbean. One

such slave was a Jamaican known as James Somerset. His master was Charles Stewart.

Somerset had been ill-treated by his master. When he had recovered, his master claimed him

back. So in 1771 Granville Sharp took Somerset’s case to court. The case was heard by Lord

Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of England. On June 22, 1772 the Mansfield Judgment was

handed down. It stated that slavery was illegal in Britain. All slaves living in Britain were freed

with immediate effect. This victory motivated Granville Sharp and the other abolitionists to press

for abolition throughout the British Caribbean, but this was too big a step. They decided to end

the slave trade instead. Then in 1787 the Society for Effecting the Abolitionist of the Slave

Trade was formed. It included Quakers but its main members were Humanitarians such as

Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce who was a member of the British

Parliament. Wilberforce was outspoken and he encouraged other members of parliament to

support the abolition of the slave trade. However the West India Interest opposed Wilberforce.

Clarkson provided Wilberforce with evidence of the evils of the Atlantic Slave Trade and

Wilberforce used these evidences to argue his case in parliament. Thomas Clarkson was referred

to as “the eyes and ears” of Wilberforce. Petitions from the British public were also sent to

parliament supporting the ending of the slave trade. The British government passed the act to

abolish the slave trade in 1807. This meant that no more slaves were to be brought to the

Caribbean from the West Africa. Despite this slave traders still continued to smuggle slaves

illegally into the British Caribbean. After the slave trade was ‘abolished’ the humanitarians

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turned their attention to the question of slavery. So in 1823 the Society for Gradually Abolition

of Slavery was formed. Its main aim was to introduce amelioration for slaves and eventually

abolition. The society sent 750 petitions to parliament. Thomas Buxton was the chief

parliamentary spokesman on slavery. He introduced the resolution in parliament that the slaves

were to be ameliorated and that slavery “ought to be abolished throughout the British Colonies.”

This resolution became an “eye opener” for the West Indies Lobby because the now realized that

the Anti-Slavery Society was determined to abolish slavery. The West Indies Lobby was

determined to forestall or undermine the activities of the Anti-Slavery Society in order to prevent

the abolition of slavery. As a result they formed a committee and drafted their own proposals.

Some of these included:

Female slaves should not be flogged.

Slave marriages were to be encouraged.

Slaves should be given Saturdays to go to the market and Sundays to go to church.

Slaves should be allowed to give evidence in court if a minister would give the slave a

character reference.

Records of all floggings of over three lashes should be presented to the magistrates at the

quarter sessions.

Slave families should not be divided.

Slaves should not be sold in payment of debts.

Adequate religious instruction should be given to slaves.

Saving banks for slaves should be set up to encourage thrift and enable slaves to buy

personal possessions.

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Buxton withdrew his resolution and the proposals were passed and sent to the colonies.

Many of the planters rejected the proposals and refused to publish them. This resulted in The

Demerara Revolt as the slaves believed that their freedom had come from Britain, but it was

being withheld by the planters. The London missionary John Smith was accused by the planters

of knowing about the revolt and failing to tell the relevant authorities.

He was arrested and died in prison. Chapels were destroyed by planters. The refusal of the

planters to ameliorate their slaves and the harsh treatment of the missionaries sent a message to

the Anti-Slavery Society and the British public that emancipation was inevitable. Their actions

only motivated the humanitarians to work harder to accomplish emancipation.

In 1830 the Agency Committee was formed by the Quaker brother Joseph and Emmanuel

Cooper. Its aim was to win support for emancipation from the British Public. They had set up

over 1,000 new anti-slavery groups, they carried out house-to-house lobbying, they launched a

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poster campaign highlighting the need for abolition, they used the press, the pulpit, printed

pamphlets and gathered hundreds of petitions with large numbers of signatures to be sent to

parliament.

In 1831 the occurrence of Sam Sharpe Rebellion in Jamaica played a major role in the

abolition movement. It was planned as a strike but turned into a revolt. Hundreds of slavers

including Sam Sharpe were hung. Churches were burnt by planters, and William Knibb and

Thomas Burchell (Baptist missionaries) were accused of encouraging the slaves to revolt. They

were brought to trial on charges that were false. The violent response of the planters to the

enslaved and the missionaries contributed to the decision to bring slavery to an end.

On January 26 1832, a number of planters sponsored the formation of a terrorist

organization in St. Ann’s Bay known as the Colonial Church Union. It was an anti-missionary

organization which was aimed at persecuting missionaries to destroyed 16 churches and attacked

missionaries. After their release, William Knibb and Thomas Burchell returned to Britain to join

the Anti-Slavery Society, and to report the atrocities carried out by the Colonial Church Union as

well as the harsh treatment given out to the slaves by the planters. These reports sparked an

uproar in the British public and renewed the efforts of the humanitarians to bring an end to

slavery. The Parliamentary Reform Act was also passed in Britain. The act led to the

redistribution of the electoral divisions, gave more people the vote and increased parliamentary

representation of the new industrial towns. As a result of this, the West India Lobby’s strength in

parliament was reduced considerably. The Anti-Slavery Society encouraged the new voters and

the election candidates to support emancipation. When elections were held in 1833, the

successful candidates who included industrialists and manufacturers were prepared to support

emancipation and voted in favour of it. (By Dyde,Greenwood, Hamber 2003)

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FINAL STEPS TO ABOLITION

The abolitionist movement was helped by the death of Pitt in 1806. The new Prime Minister was

Charles James Fox who was a keen supporter of abolition. In the spring of 1807 the English

Parliament passed the Abolition act. The slave Trade was to end on 1 January 1808. British

warships were sent to hunt down captains who ignored the law. They also stopped the ships of

any nation at war with England and freed their slave cargo. Several nations followed the British

example and passed laws against the trade: the United States 1808, Holland in 1814, France in

1818 and Spain in 1820. However, the Spanish and United States government took no really

serious action to stop the trade until the middle of the 19th century. Each year thousands of

Africans were still carried to the southern states of the United States, to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and

Brazil. A small proportion was freed by the British naval patrol sent to stop and search the ships

suspected of carrying slaves. Up to 1834 most of the Africans they liberated were taken to Sierra

Leone to join slaves freed in England after Lord Mansfield’s judgement. ( By William Claypole,

John Robottom 2001)

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AMELIORATION proposalsAmelioration – means to make something better.

Faced with such a strong anti-slavery movement, the West India Committee tried to head off the

attacks. They told the Colonial Secretary that they would support some proposals for improving

the conditions of slaves. The Foreign Minister, George Canning, raised these ‘Amelioration

Proposals’ made between 1815 and in parliament in March 1823, and promised that his

government would, sometime in the future, ask parliament to agree to emancipation. With this

promise the Humanitarians/Pressured groups supported the amelioration proposals which were

agreed in May 1823. The proposals said that the government should write to each of the colonial

governors suggesting that the assemblies should pass local laws for improving slavery conditions

which took effect in 1873. (By William Claypole, John Robottom 2001)

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THE FAILURE OF AMELIORATION

The proposals met with fierce resistance in the colonies. In the crown colonies the governors

were ordered to carry them out but there was a refusal which also influenced The Demerara

Revolt. In Trinidad the planters asked for them to be withdrawn immediately. The assemblies on

the older islands greeted the proposal with outbursts of anger. They ignored the warnings from

the West India Committee that the only way to stop the anti-slavery movement in Britain was ‘by

doing of ourselves, all that is right to be done – and doing it speedily and effectively’. In

Dominica the planters talked about independence; in Jamaica the assembly discussed joining the

United States; in Barbados the assembly said that their slaves laws where already ‘a catalogue of

indulgencies to the Blacks’. In the end most of the assemblies passed only a few of the least

amelioration proposals. The amelioration proposal failed, but there were an important land mark

in the struggle for emancipation. The British government had promised that the emancipation

would come one day. The refusal of the planters to accept emancipation meant that the anti-

slavery campaign was given a stronger case. It split the West India interest between those in

England who had tried to delay emancipation by amelioration and those in the Caribbean who

clung desperately to a passing way of life. (By William Claypole, John Robottom 2001)

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The ABOLITION/emancipation act, July 1833

The Emancipation Bill was introduced by Thomas Buxton in 1833. Its former champion,

Wilberforce, was approaching his death. By the time he died on 29 July 1833 he was assured that

emancipation would go through, as it had already passed its second reading. The Act stated that:

‘Slavery shall be and is hereby utterly and forever abolished and declared unlawful throughout

the British colonies and possessions abroad.’ However, in 1833 emancipation was not as

complete as these words would suggest, because there were clauses in the Act about an

apprenticeship system which delayed complete emancipation until 1838.

According to Nadine C. Atkinson the Bill originally proposed a loan of E20,000,000 to slaves-

owners from the British government for “compensation for loss of labour force,” and an

apprenticeship period of twelve years for ex-slaves. Political and humanitarian factors also

contributed. Slavery was abolished in 1848 in the French West Indies, in 1886 in Cuba 1888 in

Brazil. This meant that most slaves in 1833 were likely to die in slavery.

These two clauses were amended and the final Act was basically as follows:

Slave children under six years old were to be freed immediately.

Slaves over six would have to serve an apprenticeship of six years in the case of field slaves, and

four years in the case of all others.

Apprentices should work for not more than forty-five (45) hours per week without pay, and any

additional hours with pay.

Apprentices should be provided with food and clothing by the master.

Compensation in the form of a free gift of E20,000,000 should be paid to slave-owners

throughout the British empire on condition that the local legislatures passed laws to bring

emancipation.

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The apprenticeship period could be shortened, but no alternative to apprenticeship would be

allowed.

On the August 29, 1833 the Act received Royal Assent. Emancipation was to come into effect

on 1 August 1834. Orders-in-Council enforced it on the Crown colonies. In the other colonies,

the local legislatures were expected to follow suit, and since they wanted their compensation,

they enacted emancipation laws quickly. The Jamaican planters had been very worried when

they first heard that compensation was to be in the form of a loan, but after this was changed to a

free gift by the persuasive efforts of the West India Committee and the amount increased, they

too, passed emancipation quickly. The legislatures of Antigua and Bermuda decided to do

without apprenticeship, so there the slaves had complete freedom on 1 August 1834. The other

islands accepted apprenticeship, though it seemed hard for the slaves of St. Kitts, Nevis and

Monserrat when their neighbours in Antigua were free. Complete freedom for all was scheduled

for 1 August 1840, but in the event it was brought forward to 1 August 1838, when it decided to

end the apprenticeship two years early. (By Dyde, Greenwood, Hamber 2003)

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THE APPRENTICESHIP SYSTEMThe Apprenticeship System began in 1834 after slavery ended. It was made to soften the blow of

emancipation. Humanitarians had accepted that the apprenticeship was justified on the grounds

that the ex-slaves would need time to adjust to looking after themselves, handling money and

supporting their families. However it was soon apparent that the apprenticeship system was not

designed to do this because food and clothes were still provided by the masters, and the slaves’

opportunity for earning money was very limited. The apprenticeship was to run from 1834-1840

which meant that it was to be a 6year period but in 1838 the British Parliament amended the

Abolition of Slavery Act by forbidding the flogging of females or punishment on the treadmill,

and by allowing the colonial governors to supervise the treatment of apprentices in workhouses.

In spite of their loss of slaves owners were still willing to keep apprenticeship. In 1836 a Quaker

humanitarian Joseph Storge, visited Jamaica and reported on the apprenticeship system on its

cruelty especially in the work house and even accused the special magistrates/stipendiary (retired

navy officers who were sent to make sure the system was not abused by owners) of corruption.

So because the apprenticeship was judged a failure, it ended 1838 instead of 1840 hence slaves

in Britain were officially freed, the abolition movement then took toile in Caribbean countries

such as the Spanish and French West Indies. (By William Claypole John Robottom 2001)

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August 1, 1834

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ConclusionIt has been concluded that the pressured group did not remain very long during the period of the

abolition movement. They evanesce away during the 1830s hence they weren’t the ones to

abolish slavery they only helped with the abolition. On the 1 of August 1834 slaves were granted

their freedom by the help of others. However, neither the pressured groups nor the humanitarians

brought an end to slavery completely but they are the main reasons why freedom was granted on

August 1, 1834 to slaves. But for sure it has been proven that the Humanitarians and pressured

groups are the ones who brought a complete end to slavery in England because they fought for

what they taught was morally right. They also incited the other Caribbean countries such as the

French and Spanish West Indies to begin their abolition movement to emancipate slaves across

the world.

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BIBLIOGRAPHYCaribbean Story Book 1 William Claypole, John Robottom

Longman 2001

Emancipation to Emigration Bryan Dyde, Robert Greenwood, Shirley Hamber

Macmillan Caribbean 2003

Capitalism & Slavery 2005 Eric Williams, with a new introduction by Colina Palmer

The Caribbean History Pocket

Encyclopedia 2003 Nadine C. Atkinson

CXC History Workbook 1980 Elizabeth M. Halcrow

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