A Mighty Experiment: the Transition from Slavery To
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A MIGHTY EXPERIMENT: THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM IN JAMAICA, 1834-1838 by ELISABETH GRIFFITH-HUGHES (Under the Direction of Peter C. Hoffer) ABSTRACT When Britain abolished slavery, in 1834, it did not grant immediate freedom to the slaves, but put in place an apprenticeship period of four to six years depending upon occupation designation. This period, along with compensation of 6 million pounds, was awarded to the planters for their property losses. It was meant to be used to "socialize" the former slaves and convert them from enslaved to wage labor. The British government placed the task of overseeing the apprenticeship period in the hands of a force of stipendiary magistrates. The power to punish the work force was taken from the planters and overseers and given to the magistrates who ruled on the complaints brought by planters, overseers, and apprentices, meted out punishments, and forwarded monthly reports to the governors. Jamaica was the largest and most valuable of the British West Indian possessions and consequently the focus of attention. There were four groups all with a vested interest in the outcome of the apprenticeship experiment: the British government, the Jamaican Assembly, the planters, and the apprentices. The thesis of this work is that rather than ameliorating conditions and gaining the cooperation they needed from their workers, the planters responded with coercive acts that drove the labor force from the plantations. The planters’ actions, along with those of a British government loathe to interfere with local legislatures after the experience of losing the North American colonies, bear much of the responsibility for the demise of the plantation economy in Jamaica. INDEX WORDS: Slavery, Freedom, Apprenticeship, Jamaica, Magistrates, Punishment, Planters, British Government, Jamaican Assembly A MIGHTY EXPERIMENT: THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM IN JAMAICA, 1834-1838 by ELISABETH GRIFFITH-HUGHES B.A., The University of Houston, 1991 M.A., The University of Houston, 1993 A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Georgia in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY ATHENS, GEORGIA 2003 2003 Elisabeth Griffith-Hughes All Rights Reserved A MIGHTY EXPERIMENT: THE TRANSITION FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM IN JAMAICA, 1834-1838 by ELISABETH GRIFFITH-HUGHES Major Professor: Peter C. Hoffer Committee: John C. Inscoe Allan L. Kulikoff Kirk Willis Electronic Version Approved: Maureen Grasso Dean of the Graduate School The University of Georgia August 2003 DEDICATION To my mother who never lost faith in me iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to my adviser, Professor Peter C. Hoffer, who made me realize I could finish, and ensured that I did. I am indebted to Professor John C. Inscoe for his advice and encouragement, and who, with Nancy Grayson, persuaded me to return to Athens to work on the New Georgia Encyclopedia. Without this move, the logistics would have been so much more difficult. I would also like to thank my other committee members, Professor Allan L. Kulikoff and Professor Kirk Willis for their valuable comments. I am grateful to Professor Cheryll A. Cody for encouraging my interest in Jamaica and for sharing her documents on Ballards Valley plantation and Berry Hill pen with me. I owe a special thanks to Peggy Galis, who knows more about history than many professional historians, for her generosity and countless kindnesses toward me, and for the Southern history she has shared with me. Finally, to my "sisters in the blood," Wanda Wilcox and Ellen Ritchey, for our Friday nights when we met to solve the world's problems as well as our own, you have been my social lifeline in Athens. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1 JAMAICA AND THE ATLANTIC SLAVE SYSTEMS ..................................8 2 A MIGHTY EXPERIMENT ............................................................................46 3 CASE STUDY OF BALLARDS VALLEY PLANTATION AND BERRY HILL PEN ...................................................................................114 4 POST-EMANCIPATION AND THE PROBLEM OF LABOR....................155 EPILOGUE.....................................................................................................193 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................205 vi LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1.1: Slave Importations during Atlantic Slave Trade ..............................................19 Table 1.2: Slave Importations into British West Indies.....................................................23 Table 1.3: Slave Importations into Jamaica 1702-1807.....................................................24 Table 1.4: Annual Jamaican Sugar Production 1780-1839 ...............................................25 Table 1.5: Sugar Production, Slave Population, Average Annual Jamaican Output.........36 Table 1.6: Estimated Population of Jamaica 1834.............................................................43 Table 2.1: Average Annual Sugar Production 1824-46.....................................................56 Table 2.2: Stipendiary Magistrates Allotted by Colony ....................................................72 Table 3.1: Distribution of Population by Economic Activity 1832.................................118 Table 3.2: Berry Hill Pen Contingency Account 1834....................................................125 Table 3.3: Occupations of Male Slaves/Apprentices at Ballards Valley.........................129 Table 3.4: Occupations of Female Slaves/Apprentices at Ballards Valley .....................130 Table 3.5: Occupations of Male Slaves/Apprentices at Berry Hill..................................131 Table 3.6: Occupations of Female Slaves/Apprentices at Berry Hill ..............................131 Table 3.7: Distribution of Population at Ballards Valley and Berry Hill ........................132 Table 3.8: Occupational Mobility of Male Slaves/Apprentices.......................................134 Table 3.9: Occupational Mobility of Female Slaves/Apprentices...................................134 Table 3.10: Slave/Apprentice Sex Ratios 1817-1836......................................................141 Table 3.11: Ballards Valley Population by Country of Origin 1829 ...............................141 vii Table 3.12: Berry Hill Population by Country of Origin 1829........................................142 Table 3.13: Ballards Valley Population by Country of Origin 1836 ...............................142 Table 3.14: Berry Hill Population by Country of Origin 1836........................................142 Table 3.15: Rate of Natural Increase 1817-1832.............................................................147 Table 3.16: Change in Condition of Male Population .....................................................149 Table 3.17: Change in Condition of Female Population..................................................149 Table 3.18: Annual Jamaican Sugar Production 1780-1839 ...........................................149 Table 3.19: Ballards Valley Crop Returns and Sugar Production 1832-1838.................150 Table 4.1: Church Membership in Jamaica in 1840 ........................................................184 viii LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1.1: Map of the Caribbean......................................................................................12 Figure 1.2: Parish Map of Jamaica ....................................................................................30 Figure 3.1: Parish Map of Jamaica ..................................................................................114 Figure 4.1: Map of New Peasant Freeholds 1840-1845 ..................................................179 ix INTRODUCTION The largest and most valuable of the British sugar islands, Jamaica epitomized the social, political, and economic structure of a society created for the sole purpose of producing staples for an export market. It was not only the most valuable of Britain's West Indian colonies, but also the most problematic. Its slaves were the most rebellious, its planters the most contentious, and its Assembly the most independent. The history of Jamaica, like that of so much of the Caribbean, is the history of sugar and slavery. The essential ingredient in the cultivation of sugar and the “development” of these islands was a large and continuous supply of labor. Because indentured servitude was unable to satisfy this demand for labor, plantation owners in the New World turned to importing slaves from Africa. When for a variety of reasons, Britain abolished slavery in 1834, the planters’ problem was how to ensure the retention of a compliant work force. The abolition of slavery did not mean instant freedom. The British government introduced a system of apprenticeship, a compromise between slavery and “full freedom.” Parliament meant this transition period to be used for training and “resocializing” the former slaves to accept the discipline of wage