Baptist War

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The Baptist War also known as the Christmas Uprising and the Great Jamaican Slave Revolt of 1831-32, was a 10 day rebellion that mobilized as many as 60,000 of Jamaica's 300,000 slave population.[1] Led by 'native' Baptist preacher, Samuel Sharpe, it was waged largely by, though not only, his Baptist followers amongst the slaves.

[edit] Ideology and aim

The missionary-educated rebellion leaders were attuned to the abolitionist movement in London, and their intention (which partially failed) was for the uprising to take the form of a peaceful general strike. The rebellion was suppressed with relative ease by forces belonging to the Jamaican plantocracy. There was nothing inherently radicalizing about Baptist ideology, when compared to Presbyterian, Wesleyans, and Moravian-affiliated slaves, except insofar that there was a higher level of absenteeism among white Baptist missionaires, which in turn led to greater independence for and number of black Baptist deacons[2] (this also resulted in glaring distortions of Baptist ideology: for example, many Baptist slaves believed that John the Baptist took precedence over Jesus Christ [3])

[edit] Suppression and death toll

Approximately five hundred slaves were killed in total: 207 during the revolt and somewhere in the range between 310 and 340 slaves were killed through "various forms of judicial executions" after the rebellion was concluded, at times, for quite minor offences (one recorded execution indicates the crime being the theft of a pig, another, a cow).[4] Only 14 whites were, however, killed by armed slave battalions during the course of the rebellion. It is noteworthy that around the same time in the United States, the Nat Turner's slave rebellion which involved a mere 100 slaves, over 50 whites were killed.[5] The rebellion also left tremendous property damage estimated in the Jamaican Assembly summary report in March 1832 at £ 1,154,589 (equaling roughly £50,000,000 in modern terms).[5]

Many missionaries came under suspicion by the planters. Some, such as William Knibb, were arrested but later released. Groups of white colonials destroyed chapels that housed slave congregations.[6]

[edit] Aftermath

The brutality of the plantocracy during the revolt is thought to have accelerated the process of emancipation, with initial measures beginning in 1833, followed by partial emancipation (outright for children six or under, six years apprenticeship for the rest) in 1834, and then unconditional emancipation of chattel slavery in 1838.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Barry W. Higman, "Slave Populations of the British Caribbean, 1807-1834", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 16, No. 2 (Autumn, 1985), pp. 365-367
  2. ^ Craton, Michael. Testing the Chains: Resistance to Slavery in the British West Indies (Cornell University Press, 1983), pp. 297-98
  3. ^ Turner, Mary. Slaves and Missionaries: the disintegration of Jamaican slave society, 1787-1834 (University of Illinois Press, 1982), p. 81
  4. ^ Mary Reckord. "The Jamaican Slave Rebellion of 1831", Past & Present (July 1968), 40(3): pp. 122, 124-125.
  5. ^ a b Ibid., p.121
  6. ^ Masters, P., 2006: Missionary triumph over slavery. Wakeman Trust, London. ISBN 1870855531. pp17-23

[edit] Further reading

  • Mary Reckord. "The Jamaican Slave Rebellion of 1831," Past and Present (July 1968), 40(3): pp. 108-125.
  • Turner, Mary (same author as above, married). Slaves and missionaries : the disintegration of Jamaican slave society, 1787-1834 (University of Illinois Press, 1982).
  • Short, K.R.M. "Jamaican Christian Missions and the Great Slave Rebellion of 1831-2," Journal of Ecclesiastical History, (1976), 27(1): pp. 57-72.
  • Craton, Michael. The Economics of Emancipation: Jamaica and Barbados, 1823-1843 (University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1995).
  • Gad Heuman. "A Tale of Two Jamaican Rebellions," Jamaican Historical Review (1996), 19: pp.1-8.
  • Junius P. Rodriguez, ed. Encyclopedia of Slave Resistance and Rebellion. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006.
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