Figure 1.--Here a sceme on St. Kitts preparing cane for replanting about 1900. How this replicated conditions during the slave era we are not sure. We suspect that conditions here are much more relaxked. This does not look like a large cane field. We do not think many blacks actually owned land and this is not subsistence farming. Abolition changed the economics of sugar. It was no longer enormously profitable for the planters. For a short time they imported other workers, but in the long run few wanted to work for the wages that the planters could or were willing to offer. On St. Kitts this was Portuguese workers from Madiera. On other islands it was Asians, often from British controlled India. Most of the former slaves on St. Kitts and other islands turned to subsistence farming.

The first important crop grown by settlers on St. Kitts was tobacco, but was soon replaced by sugar. French Govenor Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy introduced sugar as a more profitable crop than tobacco (1640). This was in part a result of the Dutch Portuguese War (1601-63). The Dutch invaded Brazil and develoed expertise in sugar cultivation and production. It was the Dutch that introduced plantation sugar agriculture based on slave labor to the Caribbean. While small, St. Kitts and Nevis were ideal for growing sugar, a fabulously proftable crop making St Kitts and other small Caribbean islands a target of great power rivalry. Sugar plantations were established by the English and French using enslaved Africans. The first group of enslaved Africans was arrived on St. Kitts almost immediately after English and French settlement began. It is believed that they came from a Spanish vessel involved in the slave trade (1625). The Spanish had found on Hispaniola (their first Caribbean colony) that enslaved Amerindians rapidly perished. They turned to captive Africans for labor, launching the Atlantic slave trade. The enslaved Africans on St. Kitts and other Caribbean sugar islands labored under horific, brutal conditions. Sugar was immensibly valuable and became the primary crop. Sugar cultivation at the time was only possible with slave labor. Sugar was labor intensive and necesitated very difficult work which is why slave labor was required. The Act for the Better Government of Negroes and Other Slaves was passed (1711). It was designed to discourage slaves running away and to prevent free persons from aiding or hiring them. Similar acts were promulgated on other islands. These settlements were subject to attack by the English, French, and Spanish, mostly on St Kitts with condiderable damage to the economy, meaning the sugar operations. Tiny Nevis became increadably for a short time the most valuable possession in the British Empire. English and French planters made great fortunes. Examples were the English Marsham family and the Willett family. We know about them because they werev able to afford portraits by the great masters of thev day. The British Abolitionist Movement began to grow in the late-18th century. Another slave act was passed on the Islands -- the Act to Prevent Mutilatiomn of Enslaved (1783). The Act prohibited the mutilation of enslaved workers. Violations could be punished by fines of £500 and 6 months imprisonment. Planters who could not pay the fine were liable to 12 months imprisonment. The mutilated slaves were to be forfieted. They were used by Island authorities and publicly sold at auction. This was a signal achievement of St. Kitts. One Abolitionist activist reports that this was the first law in the British West Indies that afforded enslaved people a measure of legal protection against their owners. 【Stephen】 And importantly there were actual procecutions. Jordan Burke was indicted for wounding a slave named Clarissa. He was fined £50. Wadham Strode was fined £100 for injuring another slave named Peter. Notice that this did not mean terrible punishment like whipping were prohibited--only 'mutalations'. The most notable legal action was pursued againt planter William Herbert of Basseterre. He was adjudged guilty of 'wounding' a 6-year old enslaved child named Billy as well as his sister (1786). The court fined him 40 shillings. The magistrates proceeded to send the children for safe custody to the Deputy Provost Marshal. Herbert resisted enforement and threatened the authorities with prosecution for seizing his property. The children were treated, but after they recovered they were returned to Herbert. Herbert brought legal action against the Deputy Provost Marshal for reputed damages he claimed to have suffered. Herbert brought his claim before a jury three times and lost each time. Finally other planters prevailed on him to desist in his legal actions. Interestingly, Herbert is not an uncommon name on St. Kitts tiday. The British Abolitionist movement finally convinced Parliament to end of the Slave Trade (1807). This meant that planters could no longer import captive Africans. It made the slaves more valuable. It is, however, not clear to us if it resulted in better care and treatment. The Act did immediately apply to British colonies like St Kitts, but it would take years for the British Royal Navy, aided at times by the fledling United States Navy, to actually end the international slave trade. The first register (census) of slaves on the islands was conducted (1817). The free coloureds (term at the time for peoole of African ancestry) of St. Kitts petitioned the Island authoriies for the end of the legal 'disabilities' to which they were subject. Act 524 granted the free coloureds the right to civil rights, privileges and immunities of other free citizens (1830). The British Parlimment at long last passed the Emancipation Act (1833). Emancipation was declared on the Islands (1834). The gradual nature of the Act resulted in disturbances on St. Kitts. Plantation workers refused to work in protest against Apprenticeship schemes. The Apprecteships were unworkabke and ebded (1838). The Masters and Servants Acts was passed (1849). This finally ended slavery on St. Kitts.

Sources

Stephen, James.

Created: 6:52 PM 4/24/2020
Last updated: 4:10 PM 5/9/2024