What are the amelioration proposals?

Answer 1

Amelioration proposals were introduced in 1823 in the British and French Caribbean islands. They were introduced by the members of the West India Interest to improve the lives of the slaves.

At this time they believed that if the slaves were content, the abolitionists would discontinue their struggle for emancipation and slavery would be prolonged. In the British islands some examples of the proposals are:

- Overseers could not carry whips in the fields

- Slave marriages were encouraged

- Slaves were to have Saturday for market and Sunday to attend mass.

- Women should not be flogged

- Slave families should not be divided

- Slaves could not be sold as a payment of debt

In the French, many of the proposals were similar including:

- tax on manumission abolished, making it easier for slaves to buy their freedom.

As well as many others.

However, the efforts of the West India Interest were discarded as the white plantation owners in the Caribbean refused to accept the proposals. The Governor of Guyana was reluctant to post the proposals as he thought it would start a riot. The planters in Barbados refused to take on the proposals as they believed that there were enough laws and regulations to appease and improve slave lives. In Jamaica, the revised slave code of 1831 went directly against the amelioration proposals in saying that slaves could not go to market and were put to work all Sunday instead of attending mass. Also the code stated that overseers were to have whips in the field.

Overall the amelioration proposals of 1823 failed miserably due to the response of the planter class. Around this time Parliamentary reform occurring and more of the members of the West Indian interest were losing their political power. The negative response of the planters showed the British and French Government that the planters were unwilling to change and therefore turned favorably toward emancipation.