Beschreibung:

Title: Abolition Of Slavery in the South American colony of British Guiana Author: Watson, Peter M. Place: British Guiana Publisher: Date: June 20, 1838 Description: Peter M. Watson. Autograph Letter Signed, for McInroy Sandbach & Co. “Demerary” [British Guiana]. June 20, 1838. 4pp. To Sandbach Tinne & Co. [Liverpool, England]. 4pp “….a motion made yesterday by Dr McTurk for the abolition of the apprenticeship on the 1st august…we think it probable that the system cannot last. McTurk will have the support of a large number of the resident proprietors…some representatives of considerable estates are impowered by their constituents to accede to an immediate abolition… some gentlemen… have made up their minds to free their people… whether there is a legislative enactment to that effect or not…unconditional emancipation cannot be averted & that too immediately. It has caused a great sensation in town… the news must spread among the Labouring Classes in the Country and revive their anxieties and expectations…” Slavery had been formally abolished in most of the British Empire in 1834, but slaves, renamed “apprentices”, were not to be completely released from bondage for four years. When this letter was written from the colony on the northern coast of South America by the agent of a British company of absentee plantation owners, the expectations of apprenticed ex-slaves for complete and immediate freedom was boosted by the unexpected support of Dr. Michael McTurk, the colony’s principal medical officer. These events were watched with keen interest by American anti-slavery crusaders who believed that emancipation in the British Caribbean colonies gave impetus to their moral cause by proving that slavery could be ended without either economic collapse or political unrest. Lot Amendments Condition: near fine Item number: 248009