JUNE 2005

(A) List THREE provisions of the 1833 Act of Abolition. (3)

(B) Identify THREE factors that were responsible for the planters’ opposition to some of the
terms of the 1833 Act of Abolition. (10)
(C) Outline some of the difficulties experienced by the Apprentices between 1834 and 1838.
(12)
PROVISIONS OF THE ACT
The final Emancipation Bill was drafted by James Stephen. The main intention of the bill was,
from August 1 st, 1834, slavery was to be “utterly and forever abolished and declared unlawful
throughout the British Colonies.” The main provisions of the Act were as follows:
1. Slave children under six years of age were to be set free.
2. All other slaves were to be apprenticed, PRAEDIALS until August 1 st 1840 and
NON-PRAEDIALS, until August 1 st 1838.

3. Apprenticeship can be brought to an end before its stated term by purchase (MANUMISSION)

4. The apprentices would be entitled to receive food, clothing, lodging, medicine. If food was not
supplied, he must be provided with adequate provision grounds and leisure time to cultivate
them.
5. The apprentice was bound to work honestly and refrain from insolence and insubordination.
6. Special Magistrates (Stipendiary Magistrates), were appointed for ‘effectual superintendence’
and held exclusive jurisdiction over them, subject to the supreme in each colony.
7. Compensation worth £20,000 to be paid to planters for loss of property.
8. All apprentices would labor no more than 45hrs per week unpaid. Any labor in excess of
45hrs must be compensated with money or otherwise.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR PLANTER’S OPPOSITION TO SOME TERMS

1. PRAEDIAL STATUS – The Imperial Act, did not clearly define PRAEDIAL STATUS. The
Jamaican legislature felt that all working people could be defined as PRAEDIAL, since their work
was in the agricultural process. The planters were therefore not happy that artisans were
classified as NON-PRAEDIALS by many officials and that their term of apprenticeship would
have ended in 1838. Without the skill slaves, the plantations would have grounded to a halt.
2. COMPENSATION – was a serious concern which was placed in the hands of a ‘Central
Board in London. The planters were told that they would be paid based on the average value of
each slave in their possession. However this was not done, instead the slaves were valued
based on a class to which they were assigned. Many planters were unhappy with this method,
which they thought undervalued some of the slaves.
3. STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATES – The planters were unhappy that the Colonial office had
targeted retired officers from the army to serve as magistrates. They were sent from Britain.
Many planters were of the view that they would be unable to adjudicate fairly, since they were
unfamiliar with the nature of the colonies.
They then pressured the Colonial office into appointing justices of the peace to the position of
Special Magistrates. This would later be forbidden, to the annoyance of the planters, as they
were found to be compromised.
4. ATTITUDE OF THE LABOURERS – The planter’s biggest worry was labor to keep the
plantations up and running. Scheming laborers did justify some of the planter’s fears. Many
laborers behaved as though they were completely free and worked as little as possible during
their working hours, which was already limited by the Emancipation Act. There were instances
of apprentices travelling far away from the plantation and not turning up for work on Mondays.
Some apprentices were also to drunk or too tired to work after the weekend.

OUTLINE SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY THE APPRENTICES

BETWEEN 1834 AND 1838
1. QUASI SLAVERY – All the clauses of the Act, were based on the assumption that the
Africans were lazy and insolent. The Act was more focused on the planter maintaining a reliable
labor supply, rather than enabling the Africans to be able to bargain for their labor. Therefore all
the proposals were built on a system of quasi-slavery, with in-built mechanisms to force labor
from the Africans.
2. THE WORTH OF SLAVES – The worth of the slaves was viewed from the eyes of the
dominant elite class. This resulted in compensation being paid to planters for loss of ‘property’.
No compensation was ever paid to the enslaved for having their lives destroyed by slavery.
3. ARTISAN SLAVES – Tradesmen who were classified as skill slaves during slavery, found
themselves re-classified and treated as agricultural slaves during apprenticeship. This was a
scheme by the planters to try and extract as much labor as possible from the apprentices. This
also meant skilled slaves who would have been freed in 1838, would have to wait out the full
apprenticeship term. This matter would eventually be dealt with by a British Court, resulting in
complete emancipation for all slaves in 1838.
4. FAILURE OF THE MAGISTRATES – The Special Magistrates were tasked with the
responsibility of ensuring the system was fair for both planter and apprentice. They were
however affected by several problems. They travelled on horsebacks for long distances and
were grossly underpaid. They were often ridiculed by both planter and slaves, depending on
how they ruled. This led to irreconcilable differences on the plantations. Many Magistrates fell
victims to the influence of the wealthy planters, which compromised their ability to adjudicate in
favor of the slaves.
A close examination would reveal many ambiguities in the Emancipation Act. Many of the
problems were too serious to ignore, such as the change from slavery to what many thought
was quasi-slavery. In the end it was a legal challenge regarding the status of Artisans, which
brought the system to a premature end. All the problems combined however, rendered
apprenticeship unviable.