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‘Not that of mere accident, but of humane treatment’: natural increase and ‘amelioration’ on Grand Sable Estate, St Vincent

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2018

S. D. SMITH
S. D. SMITH*
Affiliation:
Brasenose College, University of Oxford.
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Abstract

This article investigates the demographic history of the Grand Sable sugar estate on nineteenth-century St Vincent. Exceptionally for a Caribbean plantation, Grand Sable's enslaved population achieved natural increase (a surplus of births over deaths). Pro-slavery campaigners seized on this achievement to support the cause of gradualist amelioration and to oppose metropolitan regulation of slavery, especially emancipation. Explanations of demographic success advanced by opponents of abolition are found wanting and alternatives proposed that are more consistent with the surviving evidence. The role played by anomalies in shaping discourse on both sides of the slavery debate is highlighted.

‘non du fait d'un simple accident, mais celui d'un traitement humain’: accroissement naturel et ‘amélioration’ sur le domaine de grand sable, île de saint-vincent

Cet article est consacré à la démographie historique du domaine sucrier de Grand Sable, au XIXe siècle, sur l’île de Saint-Vincent. Fait exceptionnel pour une plantation des Caraïbes, la population asservie de Grand Sable a connu un accroissement naturel (excédent des naissances sur les décès). Les militants pro-esclavagistes se sont emparés de cette performance reproductive pour soutenir la cause de l'amélioration graduelle et s'opposer à la réglementation métropolitaine de l'esclavage, en particulier à l’émancipation. Face au succès démographique, les explications avancées par les opposants à l'abolition sont jugées insuffisantes et des alternatives proposées plus cohérentes avec les témoignages de survie correspondants. L'auteur met en évidence le rôle qu'ont pu jouer nombre d'anomalies dans le façonnement du discours, des deux côtés de ce débat sur l'esclavage.

‘nicht aus reinem zufall, sondern auf grund humaner behandlung’: natürlicher bevölkerungszuwachs und ‘verbesserung’ auf dem grand sable estate in st vincent

Dieser Aufsatz untersucht die demographische Entwicklung auf der Grand Sable Zuckerplantage in St Vincent im 19. Jahrhundert. Außergewöhnlich für eine karibische Plantage, erreichte die versklavte Bevölkerung in Grand Sable einen natürlichen Zuwachs (Überschuss von Geburten über Sterbefälle). Die Vorkämpfer der Sklaverei setzten auf diese Errungenschaft, um ihr Programm einer schrittweisen Verbesserung zu untermauern und sich der metropolitanen Regulierung der Sklaverei, und hier insbesondere der Emanzipation, zu widersetzen. Erklärungen des demographischen Erfolgs, wie sie von den Gegnern der Abschaffung der Sklaverei vorgebracht wurden, erweisen sich dabei als unzulänglich – hier schlagen wir Alternativen vor, die mit dem Quellenbefund besser vereinbar sind. Es wird hervorgehoben, dass auf beiden Seiten der Sklavereidebatte die Diskurse stark durch Anomalien geprägt waren.

Type
Research Article
Information
Continuity and Change , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , May 2018 , pp. 117 - 144
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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References

ENDNOTES

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