History of South America

Why did the Morant Bay Rebellion occur?

1. Economic Conditions

- High taxation

- Unfair trade practices favoring white plantation owners.

- Inability for black peasants to acquire lands that the British crown confiscated and distributed to planters as compensation for the abolition of slavery

2. Social Conditions

- Discriminatory legal system and lack of legal protection for ex-slaves and their descendants

- Planters had absolute power

3. Political Conditions

- Lack of black representation in the Jamaican Assembly which passed laws discriminating against black Jamaicans, and had very restricted voting rights which excluded the Black majority from participating in elections.