Freedom at last!
Debbion Hyman, Contributor

This week's lesson will focus on the long and painful journey to abolition for enslaved Africans in the British Caribbean. The format will take that of a newspaper article.

Objectives

At the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. List five amelioration proposals.

2. Discuss the social, economic and political factors which led to the abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean.

Today marks the end of slavery in the British Caribbean and the journey was, indeed, a long and painful one. Historians will undoubtedly debate for a long time the causes of emancipation - were the social factors more significant? Were the economic causes more significant? Our focus is to provide a comprehensive discussion on the factors that have led to the end of slavery in 1834.

The Mansfield Judgment provided a watershed moment for humanitarians as it brought into sharp focus the discussion on whether or not slavery is legal in England.

In 1772, Granville Sharp, a leading abolitionist, took the case of James Somerset to the English courts. Somerset, an enslaved man from Jamaica, was taken to England by his owner. He was turned out by his master but later he [his master] would make attempts to regain his 'property'. Somerset's case came before Chief Justice Lord Mansfield on February 7, 1772. After careful deliberations, Mansfield provided a ruling in June of that year.

Lord Mansfield ruled that his study of the laws of England found that the power of a master to use force on a slave was 'unknown to the laws of England'. What was the implication of such a ruling in England?

The Mansfield Judgment in and of itself was not the catalyst for emancipation; the failure of amelioration proved another mitigating factor in the thrust for emancipation. The anti-slavery movement developed in the early 1800s as a formidable force on the quest to end slavery. The West India Committee, in a bid to head off the attacks, agreed to proposals to improve the condition of the slaves.

These proposals to improve the condition of the slaves were called amelioration proposals and came in effect in 1823. The proposals said that the British government should write to each of the colonial governors suggesting that the assemblies should pass local laws to improve the condition of slaves.

The proposals included:

a) female slaves should not be whipped and the overseers and drivers should not carry a whip in the fields.

b) slaves should not be sold in payment of debts. The measures were, however, fiercely resisted by colonists in Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent and Dominica.

Instead of improved conditions for the slaves, they faced increased brutality from the planters. In the end, most of the assemblies passed only a few of the least important amelioration proposals. The amelioration proposals failed, but they provided one of the major impetuses for the abolition of slavery. It became evident that the planters were unwilling to improve the lives of the slaves and, as such, the only other option was to put an end to slavery.

Another issue that proved important in the abolition of slavery was the activities done by the humanitarians. Humanitarians worked hard to improve the conditions of slaves and, ultimately, to lobby for the end of slavery. They tried to convince the British Parliament and the citizenry of the immorality of slavery.

They held mock slave auctions, displayed exhibits of items used to punish slaves, as well as distributed pamphlets describing the horrors of slavery. These actions allegedly awakened the moral conscience of the British citizenry. Prominent humanitarians included Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson. These men were a part of a group called the 'Saints' or 'Clapham Sect'. Other groups involved in the abolitionist cause were the Baptists, Quakers and Methodists.

The rise of the East India Interest also served as a factor for abolition. The growth of the British Empire in India led to the growth of a powerful 'East India interest' in British politics. These individuals were primarily merchants and industrialists who objected to the favoured treatment given to the West Indian interest for two reasons.

One was that goods such as tea and cotton produced in India were done with the use of free labour instead of slave labour used in the British Caribbean. The other was that protectionism was still being practised in relation to the Caribbean - giving their sugar preferential treatment in the British market.

The East India interest argued against slave labour, describing it is an expensive and inefficient use of labour. They also argued that as part of Britain's industrial development she should move from a system of protectionism to one of free trade.

The Sam Sharpe Rebellion, or Christmas Rebellion, also served as an important catalyst in the thrust for emancipation. Sharpe, a slave and Baptist deacon, believed that the British Parliament would emancipate the slaves soon and that the planters would try to find ways of keeping their unpaid force labour.

Sharpe was a literate slave and oftentimes read his master's newspaper. He led a strike soon after the Christmas holidays as slaves decided they would not work unless they were paid wages. The strikes that began relatively quiet would later erupt as cane fields and estates were burnt and other property destroyed.

Over 400 slaves were killed and 100, including Sharpe, were executed. The Christmas Rebellion signaled that slaves would continue to rebel and resist the system of chattel slavery and that they were willing to fight to gain their freedom.

Undoubtedly, these factors provided the fuel that would ignite the British citizenry and its Parliament to abolish chattel slavery.

Debbion Hyman teaches at St Hugh's High School. Send questions and comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com