Sam
Sharpe knew that ripe cane must be cut quickly, or it will spoil. As the
cane would be ripe after Christmas, Sharpe wanted the slaves to sit down
after the Christmas holiday and do not work. He thought the owners would
pay the slaves to cut the cane, so it would not spoil. Sam
Sharpe was the first Jamaican to make a plan for people to stop work,
in order to get paid properly.
Some
slaves were very angry and] did not want to try Sam Sharpe's peaceful
plan. Instead, just after Christmas in 1831 they burnt Kensington Estate
in St James. Then other slaves burnt many other estates. Some slaves got
guns, but mostly they tried not to hurt owners. However, a few of the
owners were killed.
The
Government sent soldiers to the estates. The soldiers killed some slaves
and took many others as prisoners. The slaves did not have many guns and
they had no military training. They were not organized, and they had not
planned how to fight. When the prisoners were taken to court their owners
spoke against them and more than 300 slaves were executed.
The
missionaries were against slavery so Sam Sharpe thought they would help
him. However, they tried to stop him because they knew that most of the
estate owners did not want them in Jamaica so they had to be careful.
Some
slaves followed Sharpe's plan the peaceful sit-down strike - they did
not work. But the plan failed because some of Sharpe's followers burned
estates and used violence.
Sam Sharpe gave himself up and was charged with rebellion as the Government
and the estate owners believed he was a rebel. He was taken to court,
convicted and put in prison. He was executed in Market Square in Montego
Bay in 1832.
The Christmas Rebellion of 1831 was the last big fight against slavery
in Jamaica. The Government in England knew that the slaves would not put
up with slavery any more. Most people in England also wanted to end it
and slavery was abolished in 1834.
Sam
Sharpe believed that people could join together to change things. People
could fight together against injustice. Sharpe and his followers helped
to make slavery end quickly after the rebellion. They helped to make Jamaica
free. |