“Jamaican law created a bifurcated system that divided the numerous castes into four classes: whites, who alone had access to English common law and its most sacred plank, trial by jury; free people of color having special privileges granted by private acts; free people of color not possessing such privileges; and slaves.”
A bifurcated system is simply one featuring the division of a main body into two portions; as with social class in Jamaica. Late 18th century Jamaica was a nation consistent with the traits of most Caribbean nations of the time. The Atlantic slave trade resulted in the demographic definition of the country as the arriving European community developed a nation supported by the highly successful sugar cane-dependant economy fueled by the slave labor of imported Africans. European influence proves to be quite a significant one, as later on in the passage it is revealed that social hierarchy was defined and retained up until the revolutions and emancipating legislations that would follow in the next century.
Referring back to the quote, it can be seen and is worth pointing out that at this specific time there were free Africans around. The earlier paragraph mentions an anti-discriminatory 1733 legislation that granted mulattoes “all the Privileges and Immunities of His Majesty’s white subjects” . Clearly, this law failed to be as successful as hoped. Emancipation on the island was both non-universal for all Africans but also managed to further divide the slaves into those who were free with privilege, free without privilege and those still enslaved.
Discussion questions
What prevented the 1733 law from being successful?
Should the makers of the law or the Europeans of Jamaica be blamed for its failure?