THE 1831 JAMAICAN REVOLT

This was the last and most massive slave rebellion in Jamaica. Between ' 5 partial or general insurrectionsn It was called the Baptist War ~ecause critics wanted to blame the. rebellion on the missionaries. The revolt occurred in the This convinced the planters that the missionaries were involved. here were 12

was a strong missionary presence. The revolt began on.

Hi

Becember 1'

Pressure.

. 2. Effects of the abolition of the slave trade on the labour force. In 1808 Jamaica had 348,000 enslaved per ple, but by 1824 they had 311,000. By the time of the slave revolt the-work force had experienced a decline in size and effectiveness especially in the first gang.
\J0.h\DlVl

--

By 1831,

enslaved females 1)-@a~rto outnumber enslaved males and the planters began to demand more work particular from men. 3. Dissatisfaction of the mulatto creoles. The work situation began to bother the mulattos. By

1831 they were being denied some privileges and had jo do manual labour on the plantation. 4. The failure of the~ Jamaican slave holding class to implement the amelioration proposal. The

system remained the same. Consequently, the level of discontent among the enslaved people remained high because there was no improvement in the system.
5.

In 1830 in Jamaica the Assembly granted equal rights to free coloureds and blacks with whites. The enslaved people knew about the grants and had expectations that they too would be given something te.Q-. This further disillusioned them when after one year they got nothing .. .~

. 6. The effect of the work of Christian missionaries on the enslaved people. The rebellion was led by enslaved people who were Christianized. In Jamaica there were Baptist,. Wesleyan! The Christianized enslaved people had

. Methodists, Moravian and Presbyterian missionaries.

several grievances. The leader of the rebellion, Samuel Sharpe, outlined the rights of the enslaved people rooted in Christian Theology. These included: Christian brotherhood, equality of all men before God, the Christian doctrine of freedom of the sons of God and no man can serve two masters. missionaries discovered. 7. Misinterpretation of the reaction of the planters to the new phase of the anti-slavery movement. By 1830 the anti-slavery society felt that it was hopeless for the Amelioration proposal to work
,_ nnn" ."

They saw these as totally incompatible with slavery.

They felt the

t{/:{i-

their allies and they used the church to plan the rebellion without being

thQ nn'lrpmmp.nt to

abolish slavery. News of this reached Jamaica and

master's

newsp.apers

that emancipation

was very near.

He spread the word among his fellow

enslaved people.

Leaders of the Revolt

fl

Samuel domestic

'Daddy'

.Sharpe

or Sai ,} Sharpe

was the main

leader

of the rebellion.

He was a

and a Baptist Deacon. from Retrieve Plantati on ajoiner at York Pl mtation: the head w agon man at Greenwich Plantation

It

Johnson Campbell,

(.
11

Robert Gardner,

IJI

Thomas Dove from Belve- iere Plantation George Taylor Susan of Stracy Plantaron Charlotte of Moor P: .rk Plantation

who was literate

Kitty Scarlet

Reasons for Fallu.e

1.
plan. etween the different rebel groups. There was no coordinated overall The ic ea was to have a massive

strike, but this didn't come off as planned as some rebels

wanted arm ed resistance. 2. The use of tl'1e The enslaved people faced the troops in open warfare when

guerilla warfare should have been used.

3. The

____'--_~.-c-

""-!=~

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The militia fired rockets

into the villages

of the

enslaved.

/]h
of the sla- ed . ..We revolt was only ... ~~=-=:..-bI~~~~~ people ;,n the other Provinces hardly joined. Moravians It was a Ioea ized rebellion and Presbyterians did not The enslaved

4. Limited involvement
colony.

and even in this case all the enslaved

j0111.

people, 'especially

5.
initiate it. This was beeruse to take but hard to give. ruthless in their fighti ng. 6. the government

reEe s.

The rebels

only responded

to violence,

They did not

of their Christian

teaching

in which they learnt that life was easy to figh. The whites however, were

As such they were reluctant

The Maroons in which they promised

were called upon to honour

ill

their agreement

with

to assist

tracking and hunting rebel armies.

7. Ciibaa toracking dQJ s were also used to find the rebels.

8. Willoughby up. Cotton, commander of the troops. Most of the enslaved people gave themselves

f'

I. n flnHlllt

I'

3. -lE5llilSJ;!!!!l~~~~~~ls. martial.

About 300 ersons were executed with more than half of them court Some were deported us

ost blacks were hanged and maybe a third was shot.

convicts to Canada and some were decapitated and their heads displayed on poles. Many were flogged, receiving between 10 to 500 lashes. Four women were hanged including Kitty. 4. the Baptist and Methodist missionaries. The ---.Baptist could no longer work among the enslaved people. They were forced to flee the island and return to England, missionaries campaigned for e.g., William Knibb, a Baptist preacher. These returning .SSlOnanes, particularly

agai nst slavery in England.

Two of the leading missionaries,

Berchell and Gardner were tried. Many Baptist and Methodist Chapels were burnt, in excess .' . of twenty. This was carried out by the Anglican Reverend Bridges of the Colonial Church Union.
5. It was as a result of the work of the rmssionanes

who fled the island that the British The Government came to the

Government

was finally convinc ed

(0

abolish slavery.

conclusion that slavery could not be rehabilitated and that if it continued it would result in more resistance.