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THE CHRISTMAS REBELLION OR THE BAPTIST WAR

YEAR:1831

Samuel Sharpe was a slave throughout his life, though he was allowed to become a well-educated Baptist deacon. Because of his education he was highly respected by other slaves and

he became a well known preacher and leader. He was the deacon of the Burchell Baptist church

in Montego Bay. He spent most of his life traveling in the St. James area educating the slaves

about hristianity and freedom.

!fter the passing of the !melioration Bill in "#$%, there were constant slave revolts throughout the

aribbean. &uring that time, revolt was like a po' that spread from person to person. (n other

words, whenever one island found out that another had an uprising issue in which the slaves

could voice their opinions, they would become motivated to do the same.

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he missionary-educated rebellion leaders were attuned to the abolitionistmovement in 1ondon,

and their intention 2which partially failed3 was for the uprising to take the form of a peaceful

general strike

Samuel Sharpe was a very literate man who could analy4e things and then interpret them to his

fellow enslaved. He told them that the 5gran massa6 in Britain would soon free all slaves and they

would then be paid for their labour during slavery. However, these slaves believed that it had

already passed and that their wages were being fraudulently withheld. hey decided to take strike

action and not return to work after the hristmas Holiday. Hence its name the hristmas

)ebellion. 0hites called it the Baptist 0ar because they believed that it was started by Sam

Sharpe, a prominent member of the Baptist church. He was a well known black Baptist deacon.

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he rioting started on the 8ensington *state 2Jamaica3 and then immediately spread to

neighbouring plantations. 0ithin hours, plantations in the parishes *ast of Jamaica had become

involved.

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"3 !ppro'imately four or five hundred slaves were killed, included Samuel Sharpe who was

e'ecuted for being a ring leader. Many other were killed through various forms of ;udicial

e'ecutions < after the conclusion of the rebellion, enslaves were e'ecuted for minor offences

such as theft of a pig, another, a cow. +nly fourteen whites were killed by armed battalions during

the course of the rebellion.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strikehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abolitionisthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_strike

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