Process of Emancipation I

Bryan Edwards

He was a member of the British Parliament and a Jamaican planter. He argued that the Amis des Noirs caused the insurrection in Haiti. He said that antislavery thought agitated slaves and caused trouble.

Thomas Clarkson

He was an American who went to Cambridge. He won an essay contest there by arguing that the reason for slave insurrections was slavery itself - denying rights at such a deep level and for song long made violence inevitable.

Barbados Rebellion

In 1816, Nanny Grig became aware of the Registry Act and spread a rumor that freedom would come any day, sparking a rebellion.

Demerara Rebellion

In 1823, one year after the first Order of Council mandated that slavery be less harsh, slaves misinterpreted that this abolished slavery and started a rebellion.

Jamaica Rebellion

In 1831 an insurrection breaks out that wipes out 1/2 of the island's plantations. It came after the second Order of Council in 1831.

Full Freedom

The Abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom and its colonies, which went into effect on August 1, 1838. It ended the process of gradual emancipation and the apprenticeship system that had been effect since 1834.

Antigua

As a small island, this .

apprenticeship system

As part of the "Great Experiment," slaves would remain working for their previous owners for six years before being finally released. They still had to work 40.5 hour weeks without pay, but they could not be flogged or sold.

Great Experiment

Going into effect on August 1, 1834, Britain began a gradual emancipation of slaves. Nobody knew whether coexistence would work or if a profit could still be made.

Special Magistrates

People sent from England (mainly retired military) who were in charge of dealing with conflicts between the slaves and their masters. They identified culturally with the masters, however, and there were too few of them to deal with the problems.

Impact of the Haitian Revolution

Political: For slaves, it provided an example to be followed (Apontee in Cuba, "Common Wind"). Abolitionists were appalled by the violence of the Revolution because they were mostly pacifists and gradualists. For slaveholders, it was a reminder of the danger of owning slaves. Economic: As 40% of all French Foreign Trade and 1/2 of all the sugar and coffee on the Atlantic market, the destruction of plantations on the island created a situation where the demand soared across the Atlantic world.

gradual emancipation

Slaveholders would get to keep their slaves for six more years after the original emancipation went into effect on August 1, 1834. About twenty-million pounds were allocated, and slaveowners were compensated based on the value of slaves on that island.

Cause of the Haitian Revolution

Some people believed that anti-slavery thought, particularly the Amis des Noirs, brought about the insurrection, but others pointed to the dangers of slavery itself. The instability created by the French Revolution combined with the civil war between whites and the gens de coleur also created an environment that broke down plantation order and allowed for insurrection.

Rebellions of Barbados in 1816, Demerara in 1823, Jamaica in 1831

These rebellions in British colonies saw the Edwards v. Clarkson debate play out, with Clarkson winning 1833. People decided that slavery needed to be abolished after the rash of uprisings.

British Abolition (1833)

Tired of the string of rebellions in the West Indies and pushed by the abolitionist fervor in Great Britain, Parliament abolished slavery, but at this stage that abolition was to be gradual.