Reasons for the Abolition of the Slave Trade

METROPOLITAN MOVEMENTS TOWARDS  EMANCIPATION

Introduction

The slaves took the first steps towards emancipation. They made many
attempts to free themselves and destroy a system that robbed them of their
freedom. Consequently, they resorted to non-violent and violent methods
such as lying, malingering, insolence, infanticide, abortion, marronage
(running away), suicide, sabotage, and revolt.
Revolts were a constant feature of Caribbean slave society. They were feared
by the whites because they resulted in death and destruction. Most of the
revolts were instigated and carried out by African-born slaves rather than
Creole slaves.

Reasons why
1. There were some African-born slaves who were from highly military
societies such as the Akan and were not prepared to accept
enslavement. These slaves were skilled in forest warfare and guerrilla
type tactics and so, they used these kills to try to gain their freedom.
2. In territories like Jamaica, St. Domingue, Suriname, and Berbice, the
African-born population vastly outnumbered the Creoles, and so the
majority group took the initiative to try to free themselves.
3. Many of the African-born slaves in the Caribbean experienced freedom
in their native land and so they resented the loss of their freedom. As a
result, they were determined to regain their freedom.
4. The obeahmen who were African-born, were community leaders
among the slaves and so were in the forefront of the planning and
execution of revolts. They were able to convince the other African-born
slaves that the ointment and potions administered would make them
invisible and immune to the bullets used by the whites. This helped to
give them confidence that they would succeed against the whites and
be able to return to their homeland.
5. The Creole slaves were often given lighter work than the African-born
slaves, and since they did not experience freedom, tended to be
content to be slaves.
6. The African-born slaves tended to maintain much of their cultural
heritage and at the same time resisted the European culture in every
possible way.

Responses to revolt

Negative Effects of revolts on the planters
1. Many planters suffered serious financial losses since buildings were
destroyed and cane fields burnt.
2. They experienced more financial loss when slaves, who were their
legal property were killed, hurt or sometimes ran away.
3. Planters had difficulty getting loans because people with money were
reluctant to invest in an unstable political climate.
4. Some planters had to terminate their businesses in the Caribbean
because of the severe losses which they suffered. They were also
afraid and insecure among discontented slaves.
5. The planters’ attitude towards the missionaries hardened in response
to the revolts. They blamed the non- conformist missionaries for the
resistance of the slaves and so made them suffer for example, William
Shrewsbury in Barbados in 1816, John Smith in Demerara in 1823, and
William Knibb and Thomas Burchell in Jamaica in 1831.
6. The planters’ attitude towards the slaves also hardened. They brutally
suppressed the revolts and this demonstrated their ruthlessness.

Negative Effects of revolts on the slaves

1. Many of the slaves were killed in battle, others were executed
afterwards, while in other cases, for example, after the Barbados
Revolt in 1816 and the Second Maroon War in Jamaica in 1795,
some were deported.
2. Others were punished mercilessly, conditions under which they
lived became more intolerable because of the repressive actions
of the planters.
3. Some slaves were forced into submission, while others remained
resistant especially those who were proud of their African
heritage.
4. The Haitian Revolution inspired the Maroons of Jamaica to revolt
against the whites in 1795 and it demonstrated to the slaves that
the Europeans were not invincible.
5. Some slaves became impatient for their freedom.
6. The revolts created divisions among the slaves, for example
during the 1763 Berbice Revolt.

Negative Effects of slave revolts on slavery
1. The destabilization of the slave society for example, the whites lived in
fear and the slaves became more restless. Many people were reluctant
to invest their money in colonies that were considered politically
unstable.
Positive Effects of slave revolts on the emancipation process
1. The whites in the societies began to realize that their hold on power had
become rather slight. The fact was that they were outnumbered by the
slaves in most colonies.
2. The system of slavery was being undermined. It was realized that the
slaves were not as illiterate and impossible to organize into military action as
was thought, for example, the slaves in Haiti had destroyed slavery and
made the country the first Black Nation in the Americas.

3. Anti- slavery societies grew in strength as they realized that with each
slave revolt there were more lives lost.
4. The slave revolts created opportunities for slave leaders to emerge.
5. The slave revolts forced planters to recognize that their position was
extremely dangerous since they lived among hostile slaves. Hence, they
were persuaded reluctantly to accept emancipation especially in the British
Caribbean where the government had incorporated monetary compensation
and apprenticeship in the emancipation agreement.

Reasons why slaves failed to overthrow the system of slavery

1. There were divisions among the slaves, for example, between the
Creole slaves and African-born slaves. There were some Creole
slaves who resented the African-born slaves, and so did not want to be
led into a rebellion by an African-born leader.
2. Some slaves and rebel groups had extremely limited aims, for example,
they were content to limit themselves to escape from the estate and to
live lives of freedom like the Maroons in Jamaica and the Bush Negroes
in Suriname. This limited approach was in contrast with the more farreaching
ambitions of their militant colleagues who wanted to destroy
all whites as well as the slave system.
3. The Bush Negroes and the Maroons signed treaties with the colonial
powers, binding themselves to a permanent, peaceful coexistence in
the slave community, or to help to prevent or subdue further uprisings
and return runaway slaves in return for the good will of the whites in
the colonies.
4. Some domestic slaves, particularly females, often betrayed the plans of
rebellion.
5. There was some measure of unity among the free groups in the
colonies such as the coloureds and whites as opposed to the disunity
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among the slaves. This unity was crucial for the whites in revolts such
as the 1816 Barbados Revolt when the free coloureds supported the
whites and refused to help the slaves.
6. The size and topography of the territory prevented slaves from
overthrowing the system in smaller territories where it was difficult for
slaves to find suitable hiding places where they could elude the whites.
7. Leadership struggles among the slaves helped to undo the plans of
rebel for example, during the Berbice Revolt of 1763. Two leaders:
Coffy and Atta quarrelled bitterly over the plans for development of the
uprising. The conflict between them allowed the Dutch to regroup their
forces and defeat the divided slave group.
8. The military strength of the whites also assisted in defeating the slaves.
Most of the whites had some military training as they had guns opposed
to the makeshift weapons of the slaves. In addition, the whites were
assured of the support of the troops from the mother country.
9. The slaves lacked external assistance. Unlike the Haitian Revolution
where the United States of America, Britain and Spain intervened at
crucial times, most revolts in the Caribbean did not have the support of
the various international monarchies and fledging republics that were
sympathetic to the cause of the slaves’ liberty. Consequently, they did
nothing to help such uprisings to gain total success.