Resistance and Revolution
Goal: After this lesson you can describe how enslaved people resisted the sugar system, and how slavery on the plantations finally ended. Subject: Social Studies | Run time: about 7 minutes
Quick recall
Last time we looked at the triangular trade. Two quick questions. One: what was the Middle Passage? The Atlantic crossing that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas (Williams, 1994). Two: about what share of the Caribbean sugar islands' population was enslaved around 1750? About 85 percent (Schwartz, 2004).
Why this matters
It would be a lie to tell this story as if enslaved people simply endured it. They resisted, constantly, in every way open to them, and on one island they rose up, won, and founded a free nation. That is one of the most important events in the whole history of sugar.
The idea
Resistance took many forms (Mintz, 1985; Williams, 1994). There was daily resistance: slowing the work, breaking tools, holding onto language, religion, and music that the system tried to erase. There was organized resistance: people who escaped formed independent communities, called maroon communities, in the mountains and forests, and there were armed revolts across the islands. And there was legal and political resistance: abolitionist petitions, consumer boycotts, and the testimony of formerly enslaved writers. The largest revolt changed the world. In the French colony of Saint-Domingue, enslaved people rose up in 1791. Over thirteen years of war they defeated the colonial powers, and in 1804 they founded the free nation of Haiti. It was the only successful large-scale slave revolt in history (Mintz, 1985; Williams, 1994). Then the legal end came in stages, and slowly. Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807, then ended slavery itself in 1833, but it forced a so-called apprenticeship period of several years of unpaid labor first (Williams, 1994). To keep the plantations running, planters then brought in indentured laborers, more than 500,000 from India alone, under harsh contracts (Mintz, 1985). In the United States, the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in 1865. The system did not simply stop. It was fought, and it was forced to end.
Picture it
Picture the great house at the center of a plantation, and then picture all the ways people pushed back against it: a tool that breaks at the right moment, a song kept alive, a community hidden in the hills, a petition read in Parliament, and on one island, a whole army of the formerly enslaved marching the planters out. Resistance was not rare. It was constant.
Remember this
The fact to carry out: enslaved people resisted the sugar system in every form, from daily acts to the Haitian Revolution of 1791 to 1804, the only successful large-scale slave revolt, and slavery ended in stages that were fought for, not freely given (Mintz, 1985; Williams, 1994). Read the account of Mary Prince in this lesson's documents to hear one of those voices directly.
Quick check
Quick check. What made the Haitian Revolution unique in the history of slavery? It was the only successful large-scale slave revolt, ending in a free nation, Haiti, in 1804 (Mintz, 1985; Williams, 1994).
Key Takeaways
- Enslaved people resisted daily (slowdowns, cultural survival), in organized ways (maroon communities, armed revolts), and through legal and political action (Mintz, 1985; Williams, 1994).
- The Haitian Revolution (1791 to 1804) was the only successful large-scale slave revolt, founding a free Haiti (Williams, 1994).
- Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in 1833, but forced a period of unpaid apprenticeship first (Williams, 1994).
- Planters then used indentured labor, more than 500,000 workers from India, to keep the plantations running (Mintz, 1985).
Sources
- Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and power: The place of sugar in modern history. Penguin Books.
- Schwartz, S. B. (Ed.). (2004). Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1680. University of North Carolina Press.
- Williams, E. (1994). Capitalism and slavery. University of North Carolina Press.