Obscure Slave Rebellions

[cole phelps]

Slaves force the retreat of European soldiers led by Lt Brady


The Demerara rebellion of 1823 was an uprising involving more than 10,000 slaves that took place in the former Crown colony of Demerara-Essequibo (now part of Guyana). The rebellion, which took place on 18 August and lasted for two days, was led by slaves with the highest status partly in response to the poor treatment they were subjected to; there was also the mistaken belief that the emancipation offered to slaves by the British parliament was being withheld by the colonial rulers. Instigated chiefly by Jack Gladstone, a slave at "Success" plantation, the rebellion also involved his father, Quamina, and other senior members of their church group. Its English pastor, John Smith was implicated.
The largely non-violent rebellion was brutally crushed by the colonists under then-governor John Murray. However, it resulted in the deaths of many slaves – estimates of the toll from fighting range from 100 to 250. After the insurrection was put down, 45 death sentences were passed, of which 27 were carried out. The executed slaves' bodies were displayed in public for months afterwards. Jack was deported to St Lucia after the rebellion following the clemency plea by the owner of "Success" plantation, Sir John Gladstone. John Smith, who had been court-martialled and awaiting news of his appeal against a death sentence, died a martyr for the abolitionist cause. News of Smith's death strengthened the abolitionist movement to emancipate slaves in Britain. Quamina, whom it was thought was the actual leader of the rebellion, was declared a national hero after Guyana's independence, with streets and monuments dedicated to him in the capital of Georgetown, Guyana.

 

[cole phelps]

Depiction of battle at "Bachelor's Adventure", one of the major confrontations during the rebellion



The revolt
Slaves with the highest status such as coopers, and some other who were members of Smith's congregation, were implicated in leading the rebellion[4] against the harsh conditions and maltreatment, demanding what they believed to be their right. Quamina and his son Jack Gladstone, both slaves on "Success" plantation, led their peers to revolt.[30] Quamina, a member of Smith's church,[3] had been one of five chosen to become deacons by the congregation soon after Smith's arrival.[31] In the British House of Commons in May 1823, Thomas Fowell Buxton introduced a resolution condemning the state of slavery as "repugnant to the principles of the British constitution and of the Christian religion", and called for its gradual abolition "throughout the British colonies".[8] In fact, the subject of these rumours were Orders in Council (to colonial administrations) drawn up by George Canning under pressure from abolitionists to ameliorate the conditions of slaves following a Commons debate. Its principal provisions were to restrict slaves' daily working hours to nine and to prohibit flogging for female slaves.[4]

Whilst the Governor or Berbice immediately made a proclamation upon receiving his orders from London, and instructed local parson John Wray to explain the provisions to his congregation,[4] John Murray, his counterpart in Demerara, had received the Order from London on 7 July 1823, and these measures proved controversial as they were discussed in the Court of Policy on 21 July and again on 6 August.[4][8] They were passed as being inevitable, but the administration made no formal declaration as to its passing.[4] The lack of formal declaration led to rumours that masters had received instructions to set the slaves free but were refusing to do so.[4] In the weeks prior to the revolt, he sought confirmation of the veracity of the rumours from other slaves, particularly those who worked for those in a position to know: he thus obtained information from Susanna, housekeeper/mistress of John Hamilton of "Le Resouvenir"; from Daniel, the Governor's servant; Joe Simpson from "Le Reduit" and others. Specifically, Simpson had written a letter which said that their freedom was imminent but which warned them to be patient.[32] Jack wrote a letter (signing his father's name) to the members of the chapel informing them of the "new law".[33]
Those on "Le Resouvenir", where Smith's chapel was situated, also rebelled.[3] Quamina, who was well respected by slaves and freedmen alike,[34] initially tried to stop the slave revolt,[35] and urged instead for peaceful strike; he made the fellow slaves promise not to use violence.[33][36] As an artisan cooper who did not work under a driver, Jack enjoyed considerable freedom to roam about.[22] He was able to organise the rebellion through his formal and informal networks. Close conspirators who were church 'teachers' included Seaton (at "Success"), William (at "Chateau Margo"), David (at "Bonne Intention"), Jack (at "Dochfour"), Luke (at "Friendship"), Joseph (at "Bachelor's Adventure"), Sandy (at "Non Pareil"). Together, they finalised planning in the afternoon of Sunday

17 August for thousands of slaves to raise up against their masters the next morning.[37]
Joe of "Le Reduit" had informed his master at approximately 6 am that morning of a coordinated uprising planned the night before at Bethel chapel which would take place that same day. Captain Simpson, the owner, immediately rode to see the Governor, but stopped to alert several estates on the way into town. The governor assembled the cavalry, which Simpson was a part of.[38] Although the rebellion leaders had hoped for mass action by all slaves, the actual unrest involved about 13,000 slaves over some 37 estates located on the east coast, between Georgetown and Mahaica.[30] Slaves entered estates, ransacked the houses for weapons and ammunition, tied up the whites, or put some into stocks.[3][30] The very low number of white deaths is cited as proof that the uprising was largely free from violence from the slaves.[4] Accounts from witnesses indicate that the rebels exercised restraint, with only a very small number of white men were killed.[39][4] Some slaves took revenge on their masters or overseers by putting them in stocks, like they themselves had been before. Slaves went in large groups, from plantation to plantation, seizing weapons and ammunition and locking up the whites, promising to release them in three days. However, according to Bryant, not all slaves were compliant with the rebels; some were loyal to their masters and held off against the rebels.[39]

The Governor immediately declared martial law.[3] The 21st Fusiliers and the 1st West India Regiment, aided by a volunteer battalion, were dispatched to combat the rebels, who were armed mainly with cutlasses and bayonets on poles, and a small number of stands of rifles captured from plantations.[40] By the late afternoon on 20 August, the situation had been brought under control. Most of the slaves had been rounded up, although some of the rebels were shot whilst attempting to flee. On 22 August 1823, Lieutenant Governor Murray issued an account of the battles. He reported major confrontations on Tuesday morning at the Reed estate, "Dochfour", where ten to fifteen of the 800 rebels were killed; a skirmish at "Good Hope" felled "five or six" rebels. On Wednesday morning, six were killed at 'Beehive' plantation, forty rebels died at Elizabeth Hall. At a battle which took place at "Bachelor's Adventure", "a number considerably above 1500" were involved.[40]
The Lieutenant-Colonel having in vain attempted to convince these deluded people of their error, and every attempt to induce them to lay down their arms having failed, he made his dispositions, charged the two bodies simultaneously, and dispersed them with the loss of 100 to 150. On our side, we only had one rifleman slightly wounded.
—Extract of communiqué from His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, 22 August 1823[40]

After the slaves' defeat at "Bachelor's Adventure", Jack fled into the woods. A "handsome reward"[41] of one thousand guilder was offered for his capture.[42] The Governor also proclaimed a "FULL and FREE PARDON to all slaves who surrendered within 48 hours, provided that they shall not have been ringleaders (or guilty of Aggravated Excesses)".[43] Jack remained at large until he and his wife were captured by Capt. McTurk at "Chateau Margo", after a three-hour standoff on 6 September

 

[kp404]

Resistance was collective, infectious, organized, and rampant. fukk what cacs teach; real black studies is BLACK RESISTANCE to RACIAL AND CAPITALIST OPPRESSION and we have always resisted.

 

[cole phelps]

Trials


On 25 August, the Governor Murray constituted a general court-martial, presided over by Lt.-Col. Stephen Arthur Goodman.[45] Despite the initial revolt passing largely peacefully with slave masters locked in their homes,[30] those who were considered ringleaders were tried at set up at different estates along the coast and executed by shooting; their heads were cut off and nailed to posts.[45] A variety of sentences were handed out, including solitary confinement, lashing, and death. Bryant (1824) records 72 slaves having been sentenced by court-martial at the time of publication. He noted that 19 of the 45 death sentences had been carried out; a further 18 slaves had been reprieved.[46] Quamina was among those executed; their bodies were hung up in chains by the side of a public road in front of their respective plantations and left to rot for months afterwards.[20][47] Jack Gladstone was sold and deported to St Lucia; Da Costa suggests that a letter Sir John had sent on his behalf resulted in clemency.[30]
John Smith was arraigned in court-martial before Lt. Col. Goodman on 13 October, charged with four offences: "promoting discontent and dissatisfaction in the minds of the Negro Slaves towards their Lawful Masters, Overseers and Managers, inciting rebellion; advising, consulting and corresponding with Quamina, and further aiding and abetting Quamina in the revolt; failure to make known the planned rebellion to the proper authorities; did not use his best endeavours to suppress, detain and restrain Quamina once the rebellion was under way."[48]
Smith's trial concluded one month later, on 24 November. He was found guilty of the principal charges, and was given the death sentence. Pending an appeal, Smith was transferred from Colony House to prison, where he died of "consumption"[30] in the early hours of 6 February 1824;[49] To minimise the risk of stirring up slave sentiment, the colonists interred him at 4 am. The grave went without markings to avoid it becoming a rallying point for slaves.[50] The Royal reprieve arrived on 30 March.[49] Smith's death was a major step forward in the campaign to abolish slavery. News of his death was published in British newspapers, provoked enormous outrage and garnered 200 petitions to Parliament.[50]

Aftermath

The rebellion took place a few months after the founding of the Anti-Slavery Society, and had a strong impact on Britain.[3] Although public sentiment initially favoured the colonists, it changed with revelations.[4] The abolitionist debate which had flagged, was galvanised by the deaths of Smith and the 250 slaves.[51][52] The Martial law in Demerara was lifted on 19 January 1824.[53] In Demerara and Berbice, there was considerable anger towards the missionaries that resulted in their oppression. Demerara's Court of Policy passed an ordinance giving financial assistance to church that was selected by plantation owners in each district. The Le Resouvenir chapel was seized and taken over by the Anglican Church.[4]
Under pressure from London, the Demerara Court of Policy eventually passed an 'Ordinance for the religious instruction of slaves and for meliorating their condition' in 1825 which institutionalised working hours and some civil rights for slaves. The weekend was to be from sunset on Saturday to sunrise on Monday; field work was also defined to be from 6 am to 6 pm, with a mandatory two-hour break.[4] A Protector of Slaves was appointed; whipping was abolished for women as was its use in the field. The rights to marriage and own property was legalised, as was the right to acquire manumission. Amendments and new ordinances continued to flow from London, each establishing progressively establishing more civil rights for the slaves, but they were strongly resisted by the colonial legislature.[4]
Many planters refused to comply with their provisions. The confrontation continued as the planters challenged on several occasions the right of British government to pass laws binding on the colony, arguing that the Court of Policy has exclusive legislative power within the colony. Plantation owners who controlled the voting of the taxes disrupted administration by refusing to vote the civil list.[4]
In August 1833, the British parliament passed the 'Act for the abolition of slavery throughout the British Colonies, for promoting the industry of manumitted slaves, and for compensating the persons hitherto entitled to the services of such slaves', with effect from 1 August 1834. Plantation owners of British Guiana received £4,297,117 10s. 6½d. in compensation for the loss of 84,915 slaves.[4]

 

[cole phelps]

Resistance was collective, infectious, organized, and rampant. fukk what cacs teach; real black studies is BLACK RESISTANCE to RACIAL AND CAPITALIST OPPRESSION and we have always resisted.

Some times I wonder how cacs would react if we left the united states and took our culture with us

 

[cole phelps]

The Creole case was the result of an American slave revolt in November 1841 on board the Creole, a ship involved in the United States coastwise slave trade. As 128 slaves gained freedom after the rebels ordered the ship sailed to Nassau, it has been termed the "most successful slave revolt in US history".[1] Two persons died as a result of the revolt, a black slave and a white slave trader.
Great Britain had abolished slavery effective 1834; its officials in the Bahamas ruled that most of the slaves on the Creole were freed after arrival there, if they chose to stay. Officials detained the 19 men who rebelled on ship until the Admiralty Court of Nassau held a special session in April 1842 to consider charges of piracy against them. The Court ruled that the men had been illegally held in slavery and had the right to use force to gain freedom; they were not seeking private gain. The 17 survivors were also released to freedom (two had died in the interval).
When the Creole reached New Orleans in December 1841 with three women and two child slaves aboard, Southerners were outraged about the loss of "property." Relations between the United States and Britain were strained for a time. The incident occurred during negotiations for the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 but was not directly addressed. The parties settled on seven crimes qualifying for extradition in the treaty; they did not include slave revolts.
Eventually claims for losses of slaves from the Creole and two other US ships were covered, along with other claims dating to 1814, in a treaty of 1853 between the US and UK, for which an arbitration commission awarded settlements in 1855 against each nation

The revolt
In the fall of 1841, the brig Creole, owned by Johnson and Eperson of Richmond, Virginia, was transporting 135 slaves for sale in New Orleans, the South's major market. It had left Richmond with 103 slaves and picked up another 32 at Hampton Roads, Virginia.[1] Most were owned by Johnson and Eperson, and 26 were owned by Thomas McCargo, a slave trader who was one of the passengers on board.[2] While the United States had prohibited the international slave trade effective in 1808, it permitted the domestic slave trade among those states that authorized slavery; many slave traders transported captives by the coastwise slave trade along the East Coast. The brig also carried tobacco, a crew of 10, the captain's wife, daughter and niece; four passengers, including slave traders; and eight black slave servants, for a total of 160 on board.[2]
Madison Washington, a slave who had been recaptured after returning from Canada to Virginia for his wife, was among those being shipped for sale in New Orleans.[3] The slaves were kept in the forward hold, and he gained the deck after one of the crew had lifted the grate.[2] On November 7, 1841, Washington and eighteen other male slaves rebelled; they overwhelmed the crew and killed John R. Hewell, one of the slave traders, with a knife. The crew and passengers had only one gun among them, which they never used.[2] The captain and two mates had gone up into the rigging to escape the fighting, as the captain was wounded. During the fighting, one of the slaves was badly wounded and later died. Some of the crew were wounded but all survived.
The slaves took William Merritt at his word that he would navigate for them. They first demanded that the ship be taken to Liberia, which the US had established as a free colony in West Africa. Merritt said that voyage was impossible as they did not have enough food or water. Another slave leader, Ben Blacksmith, said they should be taken to the British West Indies, as he knew the slaves from the Hermosa had gained freedom there the previous year

 

[kp404]

Some times I wonder how cacs would react if we left the united states and took our culture with us

fukk leaving. We will stay here and continue to fight for our human and freedom rights guaranteed to us by being born on this earth and in this country...resistance is not static; it is dynamic and transformative and we live it everyday

 

[JBoy]

my ancestors was bustin them colonists in the head in Guyana
In 1762, the population of the Dutch colony of Berbice included 3,833 enslaved Blacks, 244 enslaved Amerindians or indigenous people, and 346 whites.[2] On 23 February 1763, slaves on Plantation Magdalenenberg on the Canje River in Berbice[3] rebelled, protesting harsh and inhumane treatment. They torched the plantation house, then went to other plantations to mobilize other enslaved Africans to join the rebellion. Cuffy, a house slave at Lilienburg, another plantation on Canje, is said to have organized them into a military unit.[2] As plantation after plantation fell to the slaves, the Dutch settlers fled northward and the rebels began to take over control of the region. For almost a year, the rebels held on to southern Berbice, while the whites were able to hold on to the north. Eventually only about half of the white population that had lived in the colony remained.[2]

The rebels came to number about 3,000 and threatened European control over the Guianas. Other key figures among the rebels include Atta, Accara and Accabre.[2] The insurgents were eventually defeated in the spring of 1764 with the assistance of troops from neighbouring French and British colonies and from Europe.

 

[cole phelps]

British actions in Nassau
On November 9, 1841, the Creole reached Nassau, where it was first boarded by the harbor pilot and his crew, all local black Bahamians.[4] They told the American slaves that, under Bahamian colonial law, they were free. The crew advised them to go ashore at once.[4] The Quarantine Officer came aboard. As the captain Robert Ensor was badly wounded, the officer took First Mate Zephaniah Gifford to inform the American Consul of the events.[4] At the Consul's request, the governor of the Bahamas ordered a guard to board the Creole to prevent the escape of the men implicated in Hewell's death. The 24 black soldiers were led by a white officer. This action prevented the slaves from dispersing into the city.[4]
Fearing the British would apply their ban on slavery to the American slaves, the American consul tried to organize American sailors on the island to take back control of the ship. He intended to have them sail the ship out of British jurisdiction with the slaves still aboard. An American group of sailors approached the ship on November 12, intending to sail it away, but were foiled by a Bahamian who shouted a warning to the officer of the guard aboard the Creole. He threatened to fire into the Americans in their boat, and they withdrew.[4]
After an investigation by magistrates, on Friday, 13 November 1841, the Bahamian Attorney-General went aboard. He told the nineteen rebels that they would be detained. He informed the remainder: "You are free, and at liberty to go onshore, and wherever you please.".[4] A fleet of small boats manned by locals, who until then had surrounded the brig at a distance, immediately came forward. The Attorney-General warned the people against boarding the Creole, but said they could provide passage to those slaves who wished to go to shore. Most did so, although three women, a girl, and a boy stayed in hiding on board. They eventually sailed with the ship to New Orleans and back to slavery.[4]
The New Providence government arranged for a ship bound for Jamaica, also under British control, to take passengers to that island for free, and announced it in the newspaper. Numerous American blacks from the Creole left for Jamaica aboard it.[4]
After the Bahamian government arrested the conspirators, the United States government dropped its claims for all the slaves to be returned to its custody.[citation needed] There was no extradition treaty at the time between Britain and the United States governing such circumstances.
The British authorities determined that the slaves had not committed any breach of British or maritime law. As under British law they were free men, they were considered to have the right to use force to escape the detention of illegal slavery.[5] The Admiralty Court in Nassau held a special session in April to consider a charge of piracy against the men implicated in the mutiny. Ruling that their action was not piracy, the Court ordered the surviving 17 mutineers to be released on April 16, 1842.[6] As a total of 128 slaves gained their freedom, this has been described as the "most successful slave revolt in US history".[1]
The Creole had departed months before for the United States, reaching its original destination of New Orleans on December 2, 1841. Five slaves were still aboard. Southern planters and politicians were outraged to learn the remainder of their "property" had been freed by British authorities.
The case attracted national attention in the United States and provoked diplomatic controversy. In Boston in 1842, abolitionist William E. Channing published a pamphlet, "The Duty of the Free States or Remarks Suggested by the Case of the 'Creole'," to refute claims by Southern politicians that the human property of U.S. slave owners should be protected in foreign ports.[7] The issue was also under discussion due to negotiations over the Webster-Ashburton Treaty, which was ratified with Great Britain that year.
Less than a year later, the Creole was wrecked in a violent storm while in harbour at Funchal, Madeira.[8]

Political consequences

The Creole case generated diplomatic tension between Great Britain and the United States, and political rumblings within the United States. Southerners were outraged to have lost property in another instance of British colonists freeing slaves from American ships that had gone into their ports in the Caribbean. The John Tyler administration supported Southerners in seeking the return of the slaves.
Although known as an abolitionist, Daniel Webster as Secretary of State served John Tyler; he stated the US position to Great Britain that the slaves were legal property of US citizens and demanded their return.
Great Britain had abolished slavery effective August 1834, and it rejected the U.S. claim. It had advised all nations that under its law, ships that went into its colonial ports would forfeit any slaves on board. It said that Nassau was a British territory where British law must be applied. Under it, the 'slaves' aboard the Creole were to be considered free passengers. Accordingly, unless they could be proved to have broken local or maritime law, it would be false imprisonment to detain them against their will.
The abolitionist Charles Sumner argued that the slaves "became free men when taken, by the voluntary action of their owners, beyond the jurisdiction of the slave states." In March 1842 US Representative Joshua Reed Giddings of Ohio introduced a series of nine resolutions on this topic, arguing against the federal government acting on behalf of the slaveholders. He argued that Virginia state law did not apply to slaves who were outside Virginian waters, the federal government had no part in it, and the coastwise slave trade was unconstitutional, as slaves were beyond state law on the high seas, and thus free. Southerners in the House of Representatives disagreed with his position. The members censured Giddings by a large margin for violating an informal gag rule that had been in effect since 1836, barring discussion of slavery in the House. He promptly resigned. When the Ohio legislature held a special election in May 1842 for his seat, the voters of Ohio overwhelmingly reelected Giddings,[9] by 7,469 to 383.[10]
Encouraged by the outcome of the Creole revolt, abolitionists renewed their political attacks on slavery and the coastwise trade. In the newspaper article, “The Hero Mutineers,” Madison Washington was named the ‘romantic hero.’[11] Washington was said to have shown sympathy toward the white crew members on the Creole by preventing his fellow slave mates from murdering all of them when they made a last effort to regain control.[2] He was said to have personally dressed sailors’ wounds after the revolt.[11]
The case roused strong feelings on both sides of the Atlantic, as the events occurred during the negotiations related to the Webster-Ashburton Treaty of 1842 between the two nations, primarily to settle the borders between the US and Canada, a British colony. According to the New York Courier and Inquirer, Daniel Webster, as Secretary of State, wrote to Lord Ashburton, then in Washington, DC:
"The Creole case is presented in strong terms by Mr Webster in a letter (which, when published, will bring all the anti-slavery people about his ears)..." To this Lord Ashburton replied that as the case had effectively arisen after his departure from England he was ‘not empowered to treat upon the subject’. He reaffirmed the position that as slavery was no longer recognized under British law, any foreign slave arriving in British possessions was automatically considered as free — as was also the case in those American states that did not recognize slavery. He did however promise that British officials in the West Indies would be given ‘directions’...'to do nothing in this respect when it can be properly avoided’ in the interests of ‘good neighbourhood’.[12][13]
Among other declarations, the Webster-Ashburton Treaty called for a final end to the slave trade on the high seas, to be enforced by both signatories.
Seven lawsuits were lodged against insurance companies in Louisiana by slave owners who had suffered financial losses due to the revolt, as the insurance companies initially refused to compensate them.[14] Most of these insurance cases were consolidated and eventually heard by the Louisiana State Supreme Court.

Earlier cases
The Comet in 1830 and the Encomium in 1833 were American ships in the coastwise slave trade that were forced by weather into British Caribbean ports while carrying numerous slaves bound for the domestic market in New Orleans. The British treated the slaves on board as aliens, and freed both groups. Britain eventually paid compensation for these seizures, as it had not yet abolished slavery in its territories.[15]
When Parliament abolished slavery in its territories in 1833, Britain advised other countries that slave ships that put into its ports would forfeit the slaves without compensation. After British abolition of slavery in its colonies, effective in 1834, its officials freed slaves from the Enterprise (1835), and the Hermosa (1840), without compensation.[16]
In 1840, the Hermosa, a US schooner in the coastwise slave trade carrying 38 slaves from Richmond to New Orleans for sale, went aground on one of the Abacos islands in the Bahamas. After wreckers took the ship to port, the captain refused to let the slaves off and with the US consul, tried to arrange for another ship to take and deliver his slave cargo to the United States. British magistrates backed with armed force went onto the Hermosa, taking the slaves off and freeing them when they reached the port. The Americans protested.[16] The Enterprise and Hermosa cases were submitted for arbitration under an 1853 claims treaty and, together with claims for the Creole and a variety of other unrelated claims dating to 1814, Britain paid a settlement in 1855 to the United States for these three cases. A total of nearly 450 American slaves achieved freedom due to British colonies' actions in these five cases.

 

[cole phelps]

fukk leaving. We will stay here and continue to fight for our human and freedom rights guaranteed to us by being born on this earth and in this country...resistance is not static; it is dynamic and transformative and we live it everyday

your right black people globally are the only group of people to stand up against the white power structure and win we will continue to fight

 

[cole phelps]

Compensation
After years of discussion, Great Britain and the United States signed a February 1853 Treaty of Claims which articles included the claims of slave-owners who had suffered financially[17] through the British emancipation of slaves in the Enterprise (1835), Hermosa (1840) and Creole incidents.[16] A claims commission met in London from September 15, 1853 to January 15, 1855 to settle the amount of total awards covered under this treaty, which extended to a variety of claims dating from December 1814. In February 1855, Congress passed a bill accepting the commission's settlement and appropriating funds for the US payment required.[18][19]

Related incidents
British officials may have been warned off liberating slaves from US ships, but citizens sometimes acted independently. In 1855 the New York Times reported that an American slave had been removed by Jamaicans from the brig Young America at Savanna-la-Mar and "set at large". Although the action was taken by private individuals and not officials, the paper noted the potential for future conflict between the nations, and called for a lasting solution to be found by "the two governments interested".[

 

[cole phelps]

The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 was an uprising in New York City of 23 enslaved Africans who killed nine whites and injured another six. More than three times that number of blacks, 70, were arrested and jailed. Of these, 27 were put on trial, and 21 convicted and executed

Events
Conditions in New York were ripe for rebellion. Enslaved Africans lived within proximity of each other, making communication easy. They also often worked among free blacks, a situation that did not exist on most plantations. Slaves in the city could communicate and plan a conspiracy more easily than among those on plantations. They were kept under abusive and harsh conditions, and naturally resented their treatment.[1]
The men gathered on the night of April 6, 1712, and set fire to a building on Maiden Lane near Broadway.[1][2] While the white colonists tried to put out the fire, the enslaved African Americans, armed with guns, hatchets, and swords, attacked them and ran off.[3]

Aftermath
Seventy blacks were arrested and put in jail. Six are reported to have committed suicide. Twenty-seven were put on trial, twenty-one of whom were convicted and sentenced to death. Twenty were burned to death and one was executed on a breaking wheel. This was a form of punishment no longer used on whites at the time. The severity of punishment was in reaction to white slaveowners' fear of insurrection by slaves.
After the revolt, laws governing the lives of blacks in New York were made more restrictive. African Americans were not permitted to gather in groups of more than three, they were not permitted to carry firearms, and gambling was outlawed. Other crimes, such as property damage, rape, and conspiracy to kill, were made punishable by death. Free blacks were no longer allowed to own land. Slave owners who decided to free their slaves were required to pay a tax of £200, a price much higher than the price of a slave.

 

[cole phelps]

The 1733 slave insurrection on St. John in the Danish West Indies, (now St. John, United States Virgin Islands) started on November 23, 1733 when African slaves from Akwamu revolted against the owners and managers of the island's plantations. The slave rebellion was one of the earliest and longest slave revolts in the Americas. The Akwamu slaves captured the fort in Coral Bay and took control of most of the island, intending to resume crop production under their own control and use other ethnic Africans as slave labor. The revolt ended in mid-1734 when several hundred French and Swiss troops sent from Martinique defeated the Akwamu.

Slave trade

When the Spanish first occupied the West Indies, they used the indigenous people as slave labor but disease, overworking, and war wiped out this source of labor. When the Danes claimed Saint John in 1718, there was no available source of labor on the island to work the plantations. Young Danish people could not be persuaded to emigrate to the West Indies in great enough number to provide a reliable source of labor. Attempts to use indentured servants from Danish prisons as plantation workers were not successful. Failure to procure plantation labor from other sources made importing slaves from Africa the main supply of labor on the Danish West Indies islands.[1] Slaves exported from Africa on ships flying under the Danish flag totaled about 85,000 from 1660 to 1806.[2]
The Danes embarked in the African slave trade in 1657, and by the beginning of the 18th century, the Danish West India and Guinea Company had consolidated their slave operation to the vicinity of Accra on the Guinea coast. The Akwamu were a dominant tribe of Akan people in the district of Accra and were known for being "heavy-handed in dealing with the tribes they had conquered." [1] After the Akwamu king died, rival tribes in the area attacked the weakened Akwamu nation, and by 1730 the Akwamu were defeated. In retaliation for years of oppression, their enemies sold many Akwamu people into slavery to the Danes; they were transported to plantations in the West Indies, including estates on St. John. At the time of the 1733 slave rebellion on St. John, hundreds of Akwamu people were among the slave population on St. John. Approximately 150 Africans were involved in the insurrection, and all of them were Akwamu.[1]


Danish occupation of St. John


In 1718 the Danish made claim of the island of St. John for the purpose of establishing plantations. One hundred nine plantations and more than 1,000 slaves existed on St. John by the time of the 1733 slave rebellion. Many of St. John's plantations were owned by people from St. Thomas, who resided on their estates on that island. The absentee landowners hired overseers to manage their lands and slaves on St. John. The population of African slaves on St. John was more than five times larger than that of the European inhabitants: 1087 slaves and 206 whites.[3] The Danish West India Company did not provide a strong army for the defense of St. John; it had six soldiers stationed on the island to supplement local militia raised from the whites.[1]

Marooning
In 1733, in response to harsh living conditions from drought, a severe hurricane, and crop failure from insect infestation, slaves in the West Indies, including on St. John, left their plantations to maroon. In October 1733, slaves from the Suhm estate on the eastern part of St. John, from the Company estate, and other plantations around the Coral Bay area went maroon.[4] The Slave Code of 1733 was written to enforce obedience from slaves.[5] Penalties for disobedience were severe public punishment, including whipping, amputation, or death by hanging. A large section of the code intended to prevent marooning and stop slaves from conspiring to set up independent communities.[6]

 

[cole phelps]

Slave revolt
In their homeland many of the Akwamu were nobles, wealthy merchants or other powerful members of their society; marooning was a natural response to their intolerable living conditions, as they did not accept the status of slaves. (SEE: 1733 St. John's Slave Revolt, Discovery Channel: Moments in Time link title Narrator: James Woods; Actor: Jamall Sprauve; Actress: Jackie Smalls). The Akwamu intended to take control of St. John in the insurrection and rule it, continuing the production of sugar and other crops. They would use other slaves of differing tribal origin as slave laborers in turn.[1] The leader of the revolt was an Akwamu chief, King June, a field slave and foreman on the Sødtmann estate. Other leaders were Kanta, King Bolombo, Prince Aquashie, and Breffu. According to a report by a French planter, Pierre Pannet, the rebel leaders met regularly at night to develop the plan.[7]

Events on November 23, 1733
The 1733 slave insurrection started with open acts of rebellion on November 23, 1733 at the Coral Bay plantation owned by Magistrate Johannes Sødtmann.[6] An hour later, slaves were admitted into the fort at Coral Bay to deliver wood. They had hidden knives in the lots, which they used to kill most of the soldiers at the fort. One soldier, John Gabriel, escaped to St. Thomas and alerted the Danish officials.[6] A group of rebels under the leadership of King June stayed at the fort to maintain control, another group took control of the estates in the Coral Bay area after hearing the signal shots from the fort's cannon. The slaves killed many of the whites on these plantations.[1] The rebel slaves then moved to the north shore of the island. They avoided widespread destruction of property since they intended to take possession of the estates and resume crop production.[6]

Accounts of the rebel attacks
After gaining control of the Suhm, Sødtmann, and Company estates, the rebels began to spread out over the rest of the island. The Akwamus attacked the Cinnamon Bay Plantation located on the central north shore. Landowners John and Lieven Jansen and a group of loyal slaves resisted the attack and held off the advancing rebels with gunfire. The Jansens were able to retreat to their waiting boat and escape to Durloe's Plantation. The loyal Jansen slaves were also able to escape. The rebels looted the Jansen plantation and moved on to confront the whites held up at Durloe's plantations. The attack on Durloe's plantation was repelled, and many of the planters and their families escaped to St. Thomas.[1]

End of the rebellion and the aftermath
Two French ships arrived at St. John on April 23, 1734 with several hundred French and Swiss troops to try to take control from the rebels. With their firepower and troops, by mid-May they had restored planters' rule of the island. The French ships returned to Martinique on June 1, leaving the local militia to track down the remaining rebels.[6] The slave insurrection ended on August 25, 1734 [4] when Sergeant Øttingen captured the remaining maroon rebels.[6] The loss of life and property from the insurrection caused many St. John landowners to move to St. Croix, a nearby island sold to the Danish by the French in 1733.[8]


Freedom 100 years later

Franz Claasen, a loyal slave of the van Stell family, was deeded the Mary Point Estate for alerting the family to the rebellion and assisting in their escape to St. Thomas. Franz Claasen's land deed was recorded August 20, 1738 by Jacob van Stell, making Claasen the first 'Free Colored' landowner on St. John.[9]
The slave trade ended in the Danish West Indies on January 1, 1803, but slavery continued on the islands. When the British emancipated their slaves in the British West Indies in 1838, slaves on St. John began escaping to nearby Tortola and other British islands.[10] On May 24, 1840, eleven slaves from St. John stole a boat and escaped to Tortola during the night. The eight men (Charles Bryan, James Jacob, Adam [alias Cato], Big David, Henry Law, Paulus, John Curay), and three women (Kitty, Polly, and Katurah) were from the Annaberg plantation (one) and Leinster Bay (10) estates. Brother Schmitz, the local Moravian missionary, was sent to Tortola by the St. John police to persuade the slaves to return. After meeting with the Tortola officials and the runaway slaves, Schmitz returned to St. John to relay the slaves' resolve to stay away because of abusive treatment by the overseers on the plantations. After the overseers were replaced, Charles Bryan, his wife Katurah, and James Jacobs returned to work at Leinster Bay. Kitty, Paulus, David, and Adam moved to St. Thomas. Henry Law, Petrus, and Polly West Indies on Tortola. John Curry relocated to Trinidad. None of the runaway slaves were punished.[11]
On July 3, 1848, 114 years after the slave insurrection, enslaved Afro-Caribbeans of St. Croix had a non-violent, mass demonstration; the Governor-General declared emancipation throughout the Danish West Indies

 

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