Major Slave Revolts: Sam

Sharpe Revolt/Christmas
Revolt 1831
Theme 3: Resistance and Revolt

Group 4: K .Buddoo, M .Bailey,

N .Thomas, V .Johnson, J .Benbridge,
D .Edwards, A Wellington and R .Powell
What and When was the Sam Sharpe Revolt?
 The Christmas Rebellion also known
as the Baptist War and the Christmas
Uprising, was a slave rebellion led by
Samuel Sharpe in Jamaica which
started on Christmas Day in 1831.
The rebellion involved up to 60,000
of the 300,000 slaves in (1831–1832)
Jamaica who demanded more
freedom and a working wage.
 It was considered the largest slave
rebellion in the British Caribbean
Immediate Cause of the Revolt
 There was a spread of rumor among slaves in Jamaica led
to the belief that the British government’s abolition decrees
were being ignored by the planters and the local
government
 This belief created a widespread suspicion among the
slaves in the slaves in sections of western Jamaica and
provoked a rebellion in December 1831 which was led by
Samuel Sharpe, a slave and Baptist class leader.
 Who was Sam/Samuel Sharpe?
 Samuel Sharpe was born in St. James, Jamaica sometime in 1801, he was
a literate slave. Although he was born into slavery, Sharpe taught
himself to read and write because he had access to discard copies of
English as well as local newspapers which were supplied by a nephew
who worked in a newspaper and later on became a Baptist Deacon.
 He read every newspaper that he could get his hands on and he
became very well acquainted with the work and progress of the Anti-
Slavery Society in Britain and Jamaica.
 Samuel believed that the king had granted the slaves their freedom but
it was being withheld and it was quite likely that the freedom paper
had been sent but was kept from them by the planters.
 Thanks to his intelligence and leadership qualities, Sharpe was
nicknamed “Daddy” and became the leader of the native Baptists in
Montego Bay.
How did the Christmas Rebellion begin?
 As Sharpe’s idea for the general strike spread among slaves
throughout Jamaica to St. James, Trelawny, Westmoreland,
St. Elizabeth and Manchester, unsurprisingly news of the
plan also reached some of the planters. As a result, British
troops were sent to St. James and warships were anchored
in Montego Bay and the Black River.
 By 27 December 1831, Kensington Estate in the hills above
Montego Bay was set on fire, signaling that the slave
rebellion had begun. As reported in The Gazette
Extraordinary of February 1982: “since sun-set six fires
have been seen from the Court house, at Montego-bay, in
the neighborhood of Kensington, and extending northerly
to Content; he feared the whole of the east part of the
parish would be destroyed before morning.”
How did the Christmas Rebellion begin? cont’d
 A peaceful strike was now impossible, and it quickly
became the largest slave rebellion in the West Indies, with
as many as 60,000 of Jamaica's 300,000 slaves arming
themselves and seizing property across the island. Samuel
Sharpe is specifically named in The Gazette as the “active
person in this scene and who seemed to have the command
of them”
 The Christmas Rebellion lasted until 4 January 1832, with
slaves easily overwhelmed by British forces and the
Jamaican government.
What was the original aim of Sam Sharpe?
 Sharpe’s aim was to stage a general strike in order to force
the government to concede the demands of the protesters.
The plan was that after Christmas, the e slaves would no
longer work again as slaves.
 They would tell the planters that if they were prepared to
pay them they would work. Once they pay they would be
wage earners and no longer slaves.
 If the planters tried to force them back into the field to labor
as before, then they would fight for their freedom.
What was the revolt like?
 On Tuesday December 27 the last night of the three-day
Christmas festival a tongue of fire suddenly shot up in the
darkness. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the
Kensington estate.
 By midnight sixteen other estates were burning. The planters
who were still in the interior began to desert their estate. The
roads were then in hands of the rebels. For about eight days
there was hardly a single colonist to be seen between Montego
Bay, Savanna-la-mar and Black River.
 About fifty thousand slaves whose masters had fled to the costal
towns began to ramble about, plundering and burning at will.
The revolt seemed to be successful.
Some reasons for initial success
 The reasons for the initial success were as follows:
 Samuel Sharpe had spent several months form April 1831, secretly, patiently,
carefully planning.
 Sharpe used the bible to support his theme that all men had a right to freedom.
 Slight rumours about work stoppage after Christmas had reached the ears of
some planters; however they did not employ sufficient extra-precautionary
measures.
 The small garrison of some seventeen hundred soldiers seemed no match for
the thousands of slaves who soon began to wander about
Some reasons for failure of the revolt
 Some reasons for the failure of the revolt were as follows:
 The Earl of Belmore, Governor Jamaica, proclaimed martial law throughout the
island on December 30.
 Both the local militia and the imperial troops were brought into the fight against the
rebels.
 The troops were better trained and better armed than the slaves who had only a few
weapons.
 The government invoked the 1739 treaty with the maroons and Maroons auxiliaries
particularly the windward Maroons were deployed against the slaves.
 There were reports of minor disturbances in other parts of the island including St.
Thomas and Portland.
Consequences of the revolt
 The following were some of the consequences of the Sam Sharpe rebellion
 Over on hundred and sixty estates of various kind were destroyed by fire.
 The slaves were defeated and even though the slaves murdered only about a
dozen whites about 400 negroes were killed during the military operations and
anther hundred executed following the court martial and scores were brutally
flogged.
 The non-conformist missionaries were blamed for the revolt and were made to
suffer for their alleged guilt.
 The brutal suppression of the revolt and persecution of the missionaries
angered a large section of the British religious public and helped to win
support for the emancipation movement
 William Knibb and Thomas Burchell, two of the missionaries who were
threatened with trial for encouraging rebellion returned to England after they
were acquitted.
What was the aftermath of the Christmas Rebellion?
 14 planters were killed during the Christmas Rebellion, as well as over 200 slaves.
Retribution following the resistance was ruthless, with over 300 enslaved men and
women executed as a result of the subsequent trials. Most were hanged and their
heads were cut off and placed around their plantations.
 Samuel Sharpe was captured and hanged on May 23 1832 in Montego Bay on a
square now called Sam Sharpe Square. He was later named a National Hero of
Jamaica in 1975 and his image can be found on the $50 Jamaican banknote.