The Economics of Emancipation: Jamaica and Barbados, 1823-1843

by Kathleen Mary Butler

Overview

The British Slavery Abolition Act of 1834 provided a grant of u20 million to compensate the owners of West Indian slaves for the loss of their human 'property.' In this first comparative analysis of the impact of the award on the colonies, Mary Butler focuses on Jamaica and Barbados, two of Britain's premier sugar islands. The Economics of Emancipation examines the effect of compensated emancipation on colonial credit, landownership, plantation land values, and the broader spheres of international trade and finance. Butler also brings the role and status of women as creditors and plantation owners into focus for the first time. Through her analysis of rarely used chancery court records, attorneys' letters, and compensation returns, Butler underscores the fragility of the colonial economies of Jamaica and Barbados, illustrates the changing relationship between planters and merchants, and offers new insights into the social and political history of the West Indies and Britain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469639796
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	12/15/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	216
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Kathleen Mary Butler is assistant professor of history at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Butler breaks new ground. . . . This is a painstakingly researched, clearly written, and valuable contribution to British colonial history.—American Historical Review

This book has a number of strengths. Its explication of the actual workings of the compensation award, including how the value of slave property was determined, is clear and lucid. Its unraveling of the complex financial dealings between West Indian planters and British sugar merchants is exemplary. And its analysis of the 'macro-economic' effects of the compensation award upon the West Indian economies is persuasive. . . . This study deals with so many important issues to scholars of New World slavery and emancipation that it is well worth sitting down and grappling with.—The Americas

An admirable study and a fine addition to the exciting new scholarship that has been chronicling the profund transformation wrought during the transition from slavery to freedom in the Americas.—New West Indian Guide

A clearly argued work that has finally indicated the complex array of forces endemic to the emancipation process as imperial economics and politics in action.—Hilary McD. Beckles, University of the West Indies

Carefully crafted and meticulously researched, [this] study illuminates the ties that bound planters to business interests in Britain and makes a sound contribution to current debates about transitions from slavery to freedom in the Americas.—David Barry Gaspar, Duke University

This is an important book that adds considerably to our knowledge of the tangled history of British abolitionism as well as of the economic, social, and political history of the British West Indies.—Colonial Latin American Historical Review

Editorial Reviews

An admirable study.

New West Indian Guide

This study . . . is well worth sitting down and grappling with.

The Americas

This is a painstakingly researched, clearly written, and valuable contribution to British colonial history.

American Historical Review

This is an important book that adds considerably to our knowledge of the tangled history of British abolitionism.

Colonial Latin American Historical Review

Carefully crafted and meticulously researched.

David Barry Gaspar, Duke University

From the Publisher