I-yana Dinzey 5F

Amelioration
May 2010 - Amelioration paper Question 8

(i) Explain THREE reasons why the planters of the British Caribbean resisted the
amelioration proposals. (9marks)

Three reasons why the planters of the British Caribbean resisted the amelioration
proposals are, 1) the undermining of the slave owners’ control over their property, this
argument comes because the planters felt insecure about their control over the slaves since
one of the proposals stated that the slaves can testify in court against their owners if
mistreated. 2) with the new laws of planters not being able to instil the physical constraints
on the slaves as before e.g. flogging, being sold away from the plantation etc. was no longer
allowed and this caused planters to fear an overturn of plantation discipline. 3) “highly
prejudicial proposals”, they felt as though there was nothing in it for their business and that it
was only in the best interest of the slaves.

(ii) Examine FOUR ways in which the reactions of the planters in the British Caribbean to
the amelioration proposals helped to hasten the abolition of slavery. (16marks)

FOUR ways in which the reactions of the planters in the British Caribbean to the
amelioration proposals helped to hasten the abolition of slavery are, 1) the lack of wanting to
implement the effective proposals or plainly the lack of implementing any measures
whatsoever. The majority of West India planters felt that the proposals could harm their
business as well as cause them to lose their slaves. The planters who did implement any of the
proposals enacted the proposal with the least effective motion towards emancipation, or
some made their own proposals and others just plainly didn't implement them. 2) violence
against missionaries, the missionaries were mainly of the Protestant religion for example
Morvarians, Baptists, Pentecostals etc. and they would go around from plantation to
plantation teaching the slaves of religion and how to read and write, this led to the slaves
becoming educated on global affairs and above all that the way they were treated was not
right, many of the slaves as a result revolted. Damage to plantations, runaway slaves and the
murder of masters were a few of the results of revolts. The planters blamed the ministers of
the missionary groups for such, and many of them were thrown into prison an example is the
case of the Congregationalist minister John Smith in Demerara who was sentenced to be
hanged at a court-martial for encouraging slaves to revolt, he however died while waiting for
the King’s pardon. 3) a complete disregard for slave trade laws, after January 1st 1808 the
selling and buying of slaves through the Transatlantic Slave Trade were made illegal however
some planters still bought and sold those slaves by either bribing the officer or were part of
the assembly in non-crowned colonies so they did what they pleased. 4) the rise in more
revolts, for example, the Christmas rebellion by Samuel Sharpe a slave at this point in time.
All the above-stated points further reinstate the reason why these abolitionists realized that
they couldn't just wait around and try to implement the Emancipation Act piece by piece
since the planters were focused on self-preservation.