Place: Kingston, Jamaica in the Midst of the American Revolution

http://dighist.fas.harvard.edu/courses/2017/hist1002/files/original/dd264f61f16c8a6d9c723a1ba34937cc.pdf

Thomas Craskell's map highlights the importance of economic activity to the island of Jamaica, much of which was centered in the port of Kingston. There are no signs of historical occurrences on the map; rather this map focuses on what makes the colony valuable to the British Empire: sugar, commerce, trade. Interestingly, the wealth was derived on the backs of slaves, who are only mentioned in the "Explanation" on the top right corner.

http://dighist.fas.harvard.edu/courses/2017/hist1002/files/original/4695e566b80c56b3006cbeba8c01a09e.pdf

The Assembly of Jamaica assures King George III of its loyalty, underscoring the advantages they receive as part of the British empire, namely protection. Jamaica's moderate reaction to duties imposed by parliament highlights its shift towards British empire rather than sticking with the American colonies. Jamaica, Britain’s crown jewel, needed Britain for protection especially from other looming empires and slaves. Interestingly, their line of argument, at times, parallels that of British who are aghast at what is happening in the colonies.

Throughout the 18th century, Jamaica was Britain’s crown jewel: its importance in terms of exports cannot be underestimated. Both depended on each other heavily. Not surprisingly, the British settlers in Jamaica decided not to align themselves with the North Seaboard colonies as they rebelled against Britain’s rule. Jamaica moved itself closer to Britain for a multitude of reasons, chiefly among those was security. Why risk it all for a few liberties, when the middle path could yield just as much or even more? As Craskell Thomas’s map of Jamaica in 1763 and The Humble Petition and Memorial of the Assembly of Jamaica make clear, white Jamaicans were focused on commerce and ways of protecting it. The specter of slave revolts and the desires of the French and Spanish empires loomed large in the decision makings of British settlers. Thus, the commercial and political dynamics of Jamaica were fundamentally different from that of the northern seaboard colonies. Jamaica is emblematic of the divide between the British colonies in North America and those in the Caribbean. Interestingly, as Jamaica drew itself closer to the British empire, the assembly’s rhetoric parallels that of the British. That is, the Assembly of Jamaica was abhorred by the potential for unnatural separation. As the colonies rebelled, Jamaica drew closer—not just commercially as seen in Craskell’s map, but rhetorically as well—to the web of the British empire.

 

 To be sure, many white Jamaicans were disillusioned with British colonial policy. There was particular resistance to the Stamp Act in Jamaica’s most important port in the island, Kingston—where merchants dreaded that Americans captains would avoid ports that enforced the Stamp Act.[1]. Kingston, Jamaica—the site of the country’s largest port—was no small player in the decision making of the island: merchants that had significant business ties in Kingston held political influence like the wealthy white Jamaican planter, Simon Taylor.[2] Many Kingston merchants often chaffed against the implementation of the Stamp Act, celebrating its repeal by burning an effigy of George Grenville.[3] Nevertheless, the Stamp Act and other legislative measures were necessary evils: it could hurt, resistance could mount, but it was insignificant to the advantages offered by remaining in the British Empire.

 

Historian Andrew O'Shaughnessy claims that the island saw mainly “token resistance” since the British collected more stamp duty than the rest of the empire combined.[4] This moderated tone is evident in the Assembly of Jamaica’s petition. The assembly stresses its most “dutiful regard to your Royal Pefron and Family” and “the continued enjoyment of our personal Right, and the fecurity of our Properties.”[5] The assembly’s deferent tone underscores its need for commercial security—a necessity also alluded to in Craskell Thomas’ map of Jamaica. The imprint on the left side of the map depicts the tremendous wealth of the island: coins fall from a bag and barrels that surely contain sugar are flanked by canons and an enormous ship[6]. Yet all of this wealth was made on the backs of slaves who are only mentioned under the “Explanation”: a jack-shaped figure marks the spot of “Negro Tonns” where slaves might have been quartered[7]. The depiction of the island’s wealth, places to anchor ships, and the locations of sugar plantations, mills and ports—highlight the economic nature of the island, much of which flowed through Kingston. There is no reference to historical happenings or conceptions of a unique individual nation with its own culture in either Craskell’s map or the assembly’s petition. Instead, the economic nature of the island permeates both documents. This makes sense because, unlike most North Americans, most Englishmen in the Caribbean did not identify themselves with their colonial homes in Jamaica.[8] Jamaica was simply an “economic base” to accrue profits before returning to Britain.[9] North America, on the other hand, was a true home to planters like Jefferson and Washington.

 

Northern seaboard colonies and the West Indies were fundamentally different in their conceptions of the British empire: white Jamaicans saw themselves firmly as British, while many North Americans began to chafe at this description. The necessity of commerce kept Jamaica in Britain’s web and their rhetoric increasingly paralleled that of the British. Just as Peter Oliver viewed American dissent with horror—“Every factious Mouth vomited out Curses against Great Britain”—The Assembly of Jamaica, saw North Americans afflicted by unnatural “diforders.”[10] The divide between the West Indies and the seaboard colonies was clear: Jamaica would remain firmly in the in the British empire.

 

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Bibliography: 

Brown, Vincent. The Reaper's Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.

Burnard, Trevor, and Garrigus, John. The Early Modern Americas: The Plantation Machine: Atlantic Capitalism in French Saint-Domingue and British Jamaica. Philadelphia, US: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.

Craskell, Thomas. This Map of the Island of Jamaica. [map]. Londini Fournier, 1763.

Oliver, Peter. Origin & Progress of the American Rebellion: A Tory View. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961. 

O'Shaughnessy, Andrew Jackson. An Empire Divided : The American Revolution and the British Caribbean. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000.

Spindel, Donna J. "The Stamp Act Crisis in the British West Indies." Journal of American Studies 11, no. 2 (1977): 203-21.

The Humble Petition and Memorial of the Assembly of Jamaica. Philadelphia: William and Thomas Bradford, 1774.

 [1] Donna J. Spindel, "The Stamp Act Crisis in the British West Indies," Journal of American Studies 11, no. 2 (1977): 208.

[2] Vincent Brown, The Reaper’s Garden: Death and Power in the World of Atlantic Slavery (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008), 22.

[3] Spindel, 208.

[4] Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, An Empire Divided : The American Revolution and the British Caribbean (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), 95.

[5] The Humble Petition and Memorial of the Assembly of Jamaica (1774), 3.

[6] Thomas Craskell map

[7] Thomas Craskell, This Map of the Island of Jamaica, [map] (Londini Fournier, 1763).

[8] Spindell, 206.

[9] Spindel, 206.

[10] Peter Oliver, Origin & Progress of the American Rebellion: A Tory View (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1961), 51. The Humble Petition and Memorial of the Assembly of Jamaica (William Bradford: Philadelphia, 1774), 4.