The Acts of Amelioration

Amelioration (1823- 1833)
Between 1823 and 1833, the British Government introduced a system aimed
at making slave conditions better in the sugar colonies. This system was
called by the British Government ‘’Amelioration’’. Loosely translated it
means making the slave system better. Amelioration was regarded by the
Imperial Government as a logical step to take in an era when the whole
system of slavery was under attack from missionaries and humanitarians in
England and the Caribbean.

Who proposed amelioration?
Amelioration was first proposed by abolitionist groups who sought to
vehemently to bring about emancipation in the British West Indies. In 1823,
a new abolition society called the ‘’London Society for the Mitigation and
Gradual Abolition of Slavery’’ was formed. Led by Thomas Fowell-Buxton, the
society sought to garner widespread support for the abolition of slavery
through petitions and the creation of a newspaper called the ‘’Anti-Slavery
Monthly Report’’. The Society sought to have their own amelioration
proposals enforced by Law and thus asked the Imperial Government to make
such proposals as a part of their policy and eventually asked that the
abolition of slavery be gradual process eventually leading to its end. In an
attempt to forestall or undermine the Society’s attempt and prevent the
abolition of slavery, the 15 members of the West India Interest quickly
formed a committee and formulated their own amelioration proposals which
were submitted to Lord Bathurst, the Secretary of State for the colonies.

Reasons for the West India Interest’s Amelioration proposals
By formulating their own amelioration proposals, the pro-slavery group felt
that they would be able to:
i. Appease the humanitarians thus,
ii. Undermine the efforts of the abolitionists
iii. Forestall their movement
iv. Prolong slavery
In addition, since the slave trade had already been abolished and they
could not import new slaves it was therefore imperative to improve the
conditions under which slaves lived in order to prolong their life span.
Thus, they recognized that since planters were not likely to voluntarily
improve the conditions of their slaves so they had to encourage them
to do so. Furthermore, if the living condition of slaves continued to be
unacceptable there was the likelihood of increased revolts which were
not desired.
The legal basis of amelioration was set of approximately 10 rules which
were absolute in the Crown colonies of Trinidad, British Guiana and St.
Lucia, but which were only guidelines in the other colonies because
these colonies felt strongly that it was their right to legislate for their
slaves without interference from Britain. Some of the laws sought to
concede rights to the slaves and give them the opportunity to own
property or remove hardship from their lives (Barbados
Consolidated Law of 1826 gave this right to the slave). The major
amelioration law gave the following
1. Slaves could now legally join the right to be part of the
Christian community especially the Anglican Church.
Adequate religious instruction should be provided for
slaves at the expense of the Imperial Government. In
addition, they could be baptized, have legal marriages,
give surnames and Christian name and then buried
according to Christian rights in consecrated ground in
church cemeteries rather than being interred in the family
plots as was the custom.
2. Females were not to be flogged.
3. A record should be kept of flogging of over three lashes,
which should then be submitted to the magistrate at the
quarterly sessions.
4. Slave families should not be separated and slaves were
not to be sold for payment of debt.
5. Slaves should be allowed to give evidence in court
provided that a minister would give the slave a character
reference.
6. Saving banks were to be established for slaves as a means
of encouraging thriftiness and enable them to buy
personal items.
7. All children born after 1823 should be emancipated and
those who remained in bondage should be protected from
flagrant abuses.
8. Slaves could now pass on property to their children.
9. Overseers and drivers should not carry whips in the fields.
10. Slaves should be given Saturdays to go to the market
and Sundays to go to church.

These were measures that did not require any major disruption of the
social order in the British West Indian colonies and it seemed likely that if
they were scrupulously observed there would be no need for planters to fear
slave uprisings or the sabotage of their equipment by slaves or even the
likelihood of slaves running away from the plantations. However, well laid out
it was, amelioration was a plan that went astray because British West Indian
planters continued to practice all the measures which had ensured control
and dominance over two hundred years. Planter-dominated assemblies
continued to enact only a few of the amelioration measures and those which
they accepted made little real difference to the practice of slavery.
Reasons for the failure of amelioration

The amelioration policy failed because:
1. Planters were strongly opposed to it. They were totally against the
acceptance of slave evidence against a white person in court.
2. The planter-dominated assemblies resented what they perceived as
the unnecessary and illegitimate interference in the internal affairs of
their colonies by the British Parliament and the humanitarians in
Britain.
3. They were not enough officials in the Crown Colonies to supervise the
enforcement of Amelioration laws, and those who had the
responsibilities were either slave owners themselves or sympathetic to
slaveowners.
4. In territories like Barbados and the Leeward Islands, the planters
claimed that the slave conditions were good and did not need
improvement, that their slaves were treated as well as seamen and
manual workers in Britain. They viewed amelioration as the work of
their enemies, the humanitarians, and thus objected to the policy.
5. Many planters feared that amelioration would somehow erode their
authority and control over their slaves, that slave insubordination
would be encouraged and that ultimately, amelioration would lead to
emancipation. They claimed that amelioration was a violation of their
right to their property in slaves.

Conclusion
Amelioration represented a concession by the British authorities that slavery
as a system that needed overhauling if they were to silence the persons who
opposed slavery and the plantation system. The main complaint about
slavery at this time was that there were no enforceable restraints in either
the laws or social practice in the British West Indies to prevent masters from
brutally mistreating their slaves in the name of punishment. Most planters
preferred to think of themselves as respectable gentlemen, who managed
their estates well and treated their slaves, humanely but they were involved
in a system in which punishment was an essential part of the system and
they could not envisage a regime in which blacks were free and equal to
whites.