The causes of Morant bay rebellion

The basic causes of the Morant Bay Rebellion in 1865 were the unrepresentative nature of the Jamaican
government and the economic problems that Jamaica was suffering from during this time.

A very few white people controlled the government of Jamaica. The black Jamaicans had essentially no
voice in government. Out of the 436,000 people on the island, fewer than 2,000 could vote). This
meant that the mass of black Jamaicans had no feeling of being represented by their government.

At the same time, Jamaica was undergoing serious economic difficulties. Taxes were high, prices were
high, unemployment was high. In these conditions, many black Jamaicans were living in very
impoverished circumstances.

Because their material lives were very difficult, and because they had no voice in government, black
Jamaicans were primed to rebel if the occasion arose as it did when Paul Bogle and his fellow protestors
were arrested.

The consequences of the Morant bay rebellion

The Morant Bay Rebellion in Jamaica had several effects that impacted the history of the Jamaica. The
initial impact was a bloody one. Hundreds of protesters were killed by troops or executed after hastily
arranged trials. Many protesters were physically abused or served long stretches of prison time. Nobody
was exempt from the harsh treatment as men, women and children were punished.

The event made the British re-evaluate their presence in Jamaica. The governor, John Eyre, came under
a great deal of scrutiny for his actions. The British decided to include Jamaica as a crown colony and rule
it in a more direct fashion. The Jamaican parliament was disbanded and a colonial government was
installed.

While many of these results seem to have a negative effect on the people of Jamaica, there were
positives for them. Many of the large farm estates were broken into smaller tracts and Jamaicans could
farm their own land as a result. The Brits also were more committed to investing in Jamaica after the
incident and this resulted in infrastructure development in the area of irrigation and transportation
systems. Stronger institutions of learning were also created in Jamaica after the Morant Bay uprising.
The leaders for the Morant bay rebellion

In the aftermath of the Morant Bay rebellion that broke out on 11 October 1865, the Governor of
Jamaica, Edward John Eyre, ordered extensive and harsh reprisals against Black Jamaicans in the county
of Surrey under a period of martial law lasting from 13 October to 13 November. Eyres actions
provoked widespread controversy among intellectuals, politicians, and the general public in Britain. The
Jamaica Committee was organized in December 1865 to monitor the governments response. After a
Royal Commission investigation of the rebellion and its aftermath, Eyre was removed from his post and
recalled by the Colonial Office. Led by John Stuart Mill, the Jamaica Committee undertook three
attempts between 1866-68 to prosecute Eyre for murder and abuse of power for his role in sanctioning
the court martial and execution of George William Gordon, a former slave and Jamaican politician who
was accused of fomenting the rebellion. Repeatedly, English grand juries refused to indict Eyre or
convict his subordinates. The question of the constitutionality of martial law raised by the Jamaica
Committees prosecutions implied that taking sides for or against Eyres actions was fundamentally an
expression of political views about the legal limitations on the use of force in imperial governance.
Defending the importance of the constitutional principles at stake in the Jamaica Committees
unsuccessful prosecutions of Eyre, Mill articulated the duty to uphold the rule of law as a fundamental
principle of modern citizenship. The question of the extent of Gordons rights as a fellow-citizen within
the British Empire, however, remained unresolved.