Emancipation in other Caribbean territories

Nearly 50 years after emancipation in the British colonies enslavement was eliminated

from the remaining slave-holding colonies and the descendants of freed Africans were

employed in the professions and administrative positions. These developments

influenced the course of emancipation in the non-British Caribbean.

Emancipation in French territories

The introduction of the amelioration policy in the French territories was followed by

considerable debate. A commission of enquiry reported on measures to bring about

emancipation and recommended two approaches which reflected the existing divisions

in French society on the issue:

 General emancipation after ten years

 Partial phased emancipation starting with children, skilled slaves, domestics and

finally field hands

The report sparked a debate to determine the better approach but beet cane cane sugar

producers were arguing over the home market. Initially the government sided with the

cane growers and imposed a tax on beet sugar in 1837.

Inspite of this the beet sugar producers offered stiff competition to the cane producers

and in 1838 a number of planters in Martinique and Guadeloupe went bankrupt. Victor

Schoelcher, sometimes called ‘The Wilberforce of France’, supported immediate

emancipation and campaigned using speeches, pamphlets and articles. The 1848

revolution stimulated a contest between those supporting immediate and those

favouring gradual emancipation. Schoelcher wanted to avoid the British apprenticeship

experience and agreed successfully for immediate emancipation with limited

compensation and no apprenticeship period.

Emancipation in Dutch territories

The Dutch showed little interest in the anti-slavery movement until the 1840s, when

They were influenced by other developments both in the Caribbean and South and

Central America. The Society for the Advancement of the Abolition was formed in 1842

and campaigned for emancipation, to which both king and government were opposed.

Publications helped win support for the movement, and in the 1850s emancipation

dominated the government’s agenda.

In 1857 an emancipation plan was submitted, but rejected because of dissatisfaction

with the compensation arrangement, particularly among Surinamese planters.

Parliament had to approve emancipation as the sugar cane industry declined in the face
of competition from beet sugar, and rebellions occurred in St Eustatius and St Maarten.

July 1, 1863 was emancipation day in the Dutch colonies, but the enslaved African men

and women were required to contribute to the compensation to be paid to planters.

They were placed under state authority to continue giving their labour for a minimum

wage, a system which lasted until 1873.

Emancipation in Danish territories

Emancipation in the Danish Caribbean was primarily the result of the efforts of the

enslaved Africans. The Danish offered a policy of gradual amelioration called the Free

Birth system, in which children born from July 28, 1847 were to be free and adults were

to serve 12-year apprenticeship until 1859. Enslaved Africans in St Croix rejected this

plan, protested demanding freedom and revolted in July 1848.

The Governor General gave in to their demands and granted immediate freedom in St

Croix and then to the rest of the Danish territories, but the ring leaders were punished

with imprisonment and deportation.

Planters were compensated and the freed people were allowed to occupy their homes

and grounds on the estate for 3 months, but were later forced by law to enter into labour

contracts with their employers.

Emancipation in Spanish territories

The Spanish authorities sought to take advantage of the market conditions stimulated

by the decline in the British colonies and the confusion in the French colonies, by

developing the sugar industry in Cuba. They lost their slave suppliers at the end of the

American Civil war in 1865, and in 1868 the Spanish monarchy that had supported the

slave trade was overthrown.

There were many officials in the new Spanish government who supported the

movements for emancipation in Cuba (where civil war helped the cause) and Puerto

Rico. Freedoms were granted in Cuba in 1870 and Puerto Rico in 1873 and

compensation was paid to planters. The freed were required to enter into contracts with

their employers with any plantation they wished, but rules stipulated wages and

conditions.

At this time other forms of labour began to be important to the Cuban sugar industry:

indentured Chinese, free whites and workers trained to operate modern technological

improvement were preferred.