Part 2

Overview

Documentary series exploring the abolition of Slavery in the British Dominions in 1833. In Episode 2 of this documentary series, we see the gradual deterioration of the West India Interest, its power base weakened by political reform in the United Kingdom, a decline in the value of sugar and an inspired slave rebellion in Jamaica (1831/2) which unearthed the true nature of West Indian Colonists and demonstrated the instability of the institution. We also touch upon the agonising moral dilemma abolitionists faced on the subject of compensation; the financial remuneration planters received from the government as a form of repayment for their “lost property”.