11+c.+The+Emancipation+Act+and+Apprenticeship


 * __The Emancipation Act and Apprenticeship__**

__The Emancipation Act__

The Emancipation Act was passed in British Parliament in May 1833 and it was put into practice in 1834. this Act was passed due to overwhelming support for the anti slavery movement in parliament.Many parliamentarians already belonged to the Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery.

The planters in parliament had lost political power mainly due to the fact that they had not stuck to the amelioration proposals made by their own colleagues in London. The planters were also unpopular because the public was growing to be against them on the issue of slavery. Economically, slavery was becoming useless because sugar from the British colonies was more expensive than sugar fro, Cuba, Brazil or Mauritius and therefore less in demand in Europe.

Another factor that led to a majority vote to end slavery in British Parliament in 1833 was the fact that the 1830 election in Britain brought in a majority of new members who were industrialists who had no interest in slavery and wanted it to end.

__Terms of the Emancipation Act__
 * All slaves were to be freed at the same time
 * Most of the former slaves were to become 'apprentices' who would have to work for their former masters for a fixed number of hours per day for a specified number of years
 * The slave owners were to be paid a monetary sum as compensation for the loss of their slaves
 * The money for this payment was to come from raising the duties (a type of tax) on sugar from the colonies

Therefore the main concerns of the Emancipation Act were to
 * Ensure that former slaves had protection of the law
 * Ensure that there would be a transition period between slavery and full freedom
 * Calm the planters whose business would be disrupted by these changes.


 * __Apprenticeship__**

The system of apprenticeship was put in place by the Emancipation Act which was passed in 1833. The system of apprenticeship was neither full freedom nor full slavery but rather a system set up for planters to keep their labourers on the plantations although slavery was officially over.

__What were the aims of apprenticeship?__
 * It was intended to provide an easy and peaceful transition from slavery to freedom for the slaves
 * It was meant to guarantee the planters an adequate supply of labour during the period that it lasted
 * it was expected to train the apprentices for the responsibilities of freedom especially in working regularly for wages.
 * It was meant to give the planters time to introduce new equipment, technology and labour management
 * To allow time for legal changes- to facilitate the change from slave codes to new laws
 * to Provide time for the establishment of colonial banking institutions to meet the needs of a new society

__Structure of Apprenticeship__
 * Non-field slaves were to be apprentices for a period of four years and field slaves for a period of six years
 * All children under the age of six years were freed
 * Destitute mothers could indenture their free children on estate until they reached age 21
 * Stipendiary magistrates were appointed by the Crown to protect the freed Africans against overwork, maltreatment and abuse. These stipendiary magistrates were paid by the Crown
 * All apprentices were to work forty and a half per week
 * Food allowances would continue as during slavery
 * The apprentices had the option of performing extra labour or purchasing their freedom

__What measures were put in place to enforce the system of Apprenticeship ?__

Officials called Stipendiary Magistrates were put in place to enforce the apprenticeship system. Most of these men were appointed from Britain. They were mostly retired navy and army officers. The rest were non-officials from Britain as well as some whites and coloured West Indians not associated with the planter class. The main problem faced by these magistrates was that they worked under poor working conditions and this prevented them from performing their roles effectively.

__Duties of the Stipendiary Magistrates__
 * Their main duty was to supervise the operation of the act of Emancipation
 * To inspect jails and work houses
 * They were to ensure that both owners and apprentices secured their respective rights under the law
 * They were expected to administer justice and assist in preventing social and economic disturbances
 * They were appointed to help maintain the peace
 * They had exclusive jurisdiction over offences commited by apprentices and their employers
 * They made sure that no one was unduly jailed without proper reason
 * They ensured that apprentices received proper medical attention
 * They had to come up with the price of slaves who wanted to buy their freedom

__Problems with the Apprenticeship system__

There were some abuses when planters tried to break or bend the new laws. Some of the abuses are as follows:
 * Enslaved Africans were re-classified by the planters from non-praedial (farming) to praedial, so they would all be forced to work in the fields and do six years instead of four
 * There was no proper registration of the slaves, so the stipendiary magistrates who were appointed to oversee and enforce the new system did not have proper records to base their decisions on
 * women and children were overworked
 * Work hours were extended beyond the forty and a half stipulated in the Act to 45 and even 50 hours
 * The work day was extended from 9 to 11 hours
 * Food, clothing and other requirements specified in one of the clauses of the Act were withheld

__Extent to which the aims of Apprenticeship were accomplished__

To an extent they were because estates were provided with adequate supply of labour since apprentices were required to work for many hours for free.Apprenticeship also kept up production in the sugar industry as well so it was also successful to this extent.

However, apprenticeship was nothing but a changed/modified version of slavery and apprentices could not bargain with the planters about the conditions of labour

__Why did Apprenticeship end two years before it was supposed to?__ According to the Emancipation Act of 1833, domestic ex slaves were to serve for 4 years and the field slaves were to serve for 6 years. This meant that field slaves would have had to remain apprentices until August 1st, 1840. However, both domestics and field workers got freedom in 1838 because;
 * Many planters believe that they would benefit more if all were freed.They would no longer have to provide apprentices with food, clothes, medical care and housing.
 * The British Government was beginning to have doubts about the so called benefits of apprenticeship that apprentices were supposed to receive e.g. the apprentices were working too long hours to get any type of additional training
 * By 1838 ALL apprentices (both field and domestic) were looking forward to freedom. Granting freedom to only domestics and forcing the field workers to work as apprentices for two more years would have caused revolts. So on August 1st, 1838 apprenticeship and thereby slavery was totally ended.


 * __Related past papers questions__**

1. Give 3 reasons why apprentices would have been unhappy with the apprenticeship system