The Major Slave Rebellions in (Barbados, Demerara
Analysis
The major slave rebellions in (Barbados, Demerara,
and Jamaica) during the period of 1816, 1823 and 1831 was
a time of such brutality towards the slaves in the colonies.
The three main causes of these rebellions are listed below:
Political factors
In Parliament, the Imperial Government passed the
Abolition of the British Slave Trade (1807)mainly
because of the work of Granville Sharp, who was
responsible for bringing it to attention in the court case of
James Somerest whose trial led to slavery being declared
illegal in England by Judge Lord Mansfield after a few
unsuccessful attempts.
After the ending of the Slave Trade they started to
smuggle slaves to England to work on the plantations. This
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later came to the attention of the Government who
eventually passed a next law called the Slave Registration
Act (1816) to keep an account on the slaves and to stop the
smuggling of same to England. The aim of this Act was to
have all the names of the slaves on a register so that the
British government could detect planters who were buying
them illegally from other colonies owned by Britain or
in another European country.
Agitation amongst slaves were increasing in the
region in that time, and slave rebellions were becoming
increasingly frequent as the Imperial Government didn’t
want a repeat of what happened in Haiti, so they tried to
moderate the conduct of the worst slave owners, as a
measure to control the outbreaks of violence in the colonies
by instituting the Amelioration Act.
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The rebellions were carried out by charismatic
leaders like: Bussa (an African born slave), Nanny Griggs,
Jackey, Roach, and Ranger from the Barbados rebellion,
Quamina (a slave who was a deacon) from Demerara and
Sam Sharp (an educated creole slave) from the Jamaica
rebellion.
Social factors
On the plantation the slaves worked under unfair
conditions. They were treated like animals and/or lower
than whites and the conditions were so cruel that the
plantations had a high turnover rate of slaves due to deaths
and desertion. The teaching of the missionaries entailed
that every man no matter which complexion or the money
they had, everyone was equal in the sight of god and that
all Christians were brothers.And there was a greater
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population of blacks than whites.
Economical factors
In the 19th century sugar were no longer important to
the mother country, as it was cheaper to pay the slaves
rather than enslave them whereby theplantation owners
would have to find clothes, food, shelter, and health fees.
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A picture of the map of Barbados (back then).
Bussa’s rebellion (1816)
The leader of this rebellion Bussa (died 1816) was an
African-born Barbadian slave who in 1816 led a slave
uprising in Barbados popularly known as Bussa's
Rebellion. Bussa was born a free man in Africa, possibly
Igbo, and was captured by African slave
merchants, sold to the British, and brought to Barbados in
the late 18th century as a slave. Bussa worked as a ranger
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on 'Bayley's Plantation' in the parish of St. Philip around
the time of the rebellion. This privileged position would
have given Bussa much more freedom of movement than
the average slave and would have made it easier for him to
plan and coordinate the rebellion.
Apart from the factors stated below, the Barbados
Rebellion had a unique cause .The slaves mistook the
Slave Registration Act (1816) and the Abolition of the
British Slave trade (1807) for the granting of their freedom.
They thought the Government in England had freed them
but was being withheld by the wicked planters .The slaves
also misinterpreted the anger of the whites and thought
they were refusing to grant them their freedom.
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Demerara (1823)
The leader Quamina was a carpenter who lived and
worked on 'Success' plantation in Demerara. According to
the Costa, Quamina was African-born; he and his mother
were sold into slavery when he was a child. His mother
died on aplantation in 1817. In some source material, he is
surnamed Gladstone, as the enslaved adopted surnames of
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their masters by convention. Sir John Gladstone, who had
never set foot on his plantation, had acquired half share in
the plantation in 1812 through mortgage default; he
acquired the remaining half four years later. He was a
carpenter by trade, and worked on an estate owned by
Sir John Gladstone. He was implicated in the revolt by the
colonial authorities, apprehended and executed on 16
September 1823. He is considered a national hero in
Guyana, and there are streets in Georgetown and the village
of Beterverwagting on the East Coast Demerara, named
after him.
Apart from the factors stated below, the Demerara
rebellion had a unique cause. This happened in a response
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to the Amelioration Act. The slaves thought they were
being granted freedom and the planters were withholding it.
The King had sent a ‘free paper’ of that the governor
would not issue it. This caused the revolt to quickly break
out and within two days 13,000 slaves had joined in.
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Jamaica (1831)
The Leader Samuel Sharpe was born in the parish of St.
James. Samuel Sharpe was a slave throughout his life, he
was allowed to become well-educated, because of his
education he was respected by other slaves and he was a
well known preacher and leader. Sharpe was a Deacon at
the Burchell Baptist Church in Montego Bay, whose pastor
was Rev Thomas Burchell. Sam Sharpe spent most of his
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time travelling to different parishes in Jamaica educating
the slaves about Christianity and freedom.
This rebellion had mostly similar causes to that of the
other rebellions.
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Causes of failure
The causes of failure in these rebellions were quite
similar. Most slave rebellion protests failed mainly
because: They would often end up splitting up between
Creole slaves and African born slaves, as African born
slaves were more willing to see the rebellions through to
the end. The aims of the slave’s leaders were too moderate
(Bussa, Nanny Griggs, Jackey, Roach, Ranger, Quamina
and Sam Sharp). The leaders’ colloquialism for example
hesitation .
The slaves also had poor military experience, so
when they went up against the militia they were easily put
down .The whites had widespread support from the
colonies in the Caribbean, they import a lot more troops to
the troubled colony, The whites were mostly vigilant and
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organized people, so they could stop the rebellions in a
short time span. Sometimes the failure of these rebellions
were caused by the geographical location of where the
rebellions were staged.
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Conclusion
The Political, Economical and Social factors were the
three main factors that caused the rebellions, but some
people thought that the rebellions were a waste of time or
was not successful.
The non success of the rebellions were proven useful,
as it created fear within the Government, causing them to
enforce laws which would better the lives and living
conditions of the slaves, although they had rebelled against
most of the procedures put forward to better their live
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Rationale
My aim is to highlight the main causes and reasons for
the failure of the Barbados, Demerara, and Jamaica
rebellions. In this research you will be exposed to the
rebellions of the early part of the 19th century and further
details on how it happened.
In my research I seek to inform the unaware about the
route taken towards the rebellions.
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Topic: slave Resistance and Revolt.
Research question: The causes of the major slave
rebellions (Barbados 1816,
Demerara, 1823, and Jamaica
1831) and the reasons for their
success or failure.
Thesis statement: The causes of the major slave
rebellions in the early part of
the 19th century had a
“ common thread”. so too
were the reasons behind their
failure or collapse.
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Bibliography
Title Authors
Caribbean Story book 1…………………………William Claypole
& John Robottom
Emancipation to………………………………Robert Green wood
Emigration & Shirley Hamber
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Table of contents
Title Page #
Title page……………………………………….1
Topic………………………………………………...2
Acknowledgement…………………………………..3
Rationale…………………………………………….4
Introduction…………………………………………5
Chapter 1:………………….………………………..6-8
Chapter 2:……………….………………………… 9-12
Chapter 3………………………………..……..…..13-18
Conclusion………………………………………….19
Bibliography………………………………………..20
Appendices………………………………………….21
Acknowledgement
The successful completion of this study (S. B. A) would
not have been possible without the assistance and
cooperation of a number of persons. I give my condolences
to: God for life, my teacher for guiding me throughout this
S. B. A. and last but not least my family and friends for
their encouragement and monetary assistants.
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on
The Topic:
Slave resistance and Revolt.
Research question: The causes of the major slave
rebellions (Barbados 1816,
Demerara, 1823, and Jamaica
1831) and the reasons for their
success or failure.
Name of Candidate: Sean Harris
School: Calabar high school
Center number: 100013
Teacher: Mr. F. Largie
Territory: Jamaica
Registration number:
Introduction
This School Based Assessment examines the causes
of the major slave rebellions ( Barbados, Demerara,
Jamaica ) in the 19th century and their reason for success or
failure. It also examined that the main causes were due to :
the Political, Economic, and Social factors and influences
in the colonies, as well as the Abolition of the British Slave
Trade (1807), Slave Registration Act (1816) and the
Amelioration Act. Despite the failure of these rebellions,
the rebellions still had an impact on the Abolition of
Slavery.
The causes of the major slave rebellions in the early
part of the 19th century have a ‘common thread’ so too are
the reasons behind their failure or collapse.
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appendices
A picture of the map of Barbados (back then).
fig. 1
a picture of Jamaica in the early days.
fig.2
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Title page
My History S.B.A
on
The Topic:
Slave resistance and Revolt.
Research question: The causes of the major slave
rebellions (Barbados 1816,
Demerara, 1823, and Jamaica
1831) and the reasons for their
success or failure.
Name of Candidate: Sean Harris
School: Calabar high school
Center number: 100013
Teacher: Mr. F. Largie
Territory: Jamaica
Registration number:
1