2. OVERVIEW SUMMARY
The end of slavery and emancipation of slaves occurred both in the United States
and in the Caribbean, with several differences but also some connections and
similarities. Following the emancipation in both countries, there was some uncertainty
about what role the emancipated slaves would play in society. There was a need for a
controlled labor force in both countries, which resulted in the importation of cheap labor,
the passing of laws and codes restricting the rights of freedmen, and the reorganization
of the tax system.
Despite these similarities, there were stark differences between emancipation in
the republic of the United States and the Caribbean. In the United States, there was
controversy over whether or not the freed blacks would have equal rights, and for a
small period of time they were granted some political power and rights. This is very
different from the Caribbean where the idea of granting blacks rights was not even in
question, and laws restricting their rights were more severe than in the United States.
Unlike the United States, the Caribbean government completely prevented freedmen
from amassing political power. Some American Democrats wanted to model post-
emancipation society after the Caribbean, whereas Radical Republicans wanted to steer
away from the “grave mistakes” of the British following emancipation.
Whether you compare or contrast emancipation in these separate areas, it is
clear that a connection can be drawn between them. The United States ratified the
Thirteenth Amendment that outlawed slavery in the territories in 1865, it followed the
trend of emancipation that began in Haiti, continued in the West Indies, and ended in
Brazil. There was an international trend of setting slaves free during the 1800s, and the
United States followed suit, using the Caribbean as a model.

3. This is a picture of slaves in the West Indies
celebrating their emancipation from the British
in The United States was influenced greatly by
the emancipation of slaves in the Caribbean,
starting with the Haitian Revolution on 1801
and the British emancipation in the West
Indies in 1833. Both anti-abolitionists and
abolitionists in the United States looked to the
Caribbean as an example for how they should
handle slavery, freedmen, and rights in their
own country. For example, the United States
learned that Southern plantations could not be
supported on free labor after they saw the
collapse of West Indian economies.
Abolitionists referenced the “grave mistakes”
made by the British when they attempted to
legislate blacks back into slavery with the use
of restrictive laws, or by creating a “halfway
house between slavery and complete civil and
political equality.” The Caribbean
emancipation acted as a model for the United
States before and during emancipation and
Reconstruction.
CONNECTION

4. This picture shows a black man at a house that he owned. After emancipation, it became
the goal of many black men to obtain property. This owning of property would give them a
certain degree of power. If they owned their own property, they would no longer have to rely
on their former masters for wages and for land to farm. This opened up the opportunity for
black men to become independent from the whites in their communities. This eagerness to
own land was found in both American and Caribbean freedmen because they wanted to
take control of their lives by controlling their own property, working hours, and types of labor.
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5. SIMILARITY
With the freeing of the blacks there arose a question of where the source for cheap labor would come
from. Plantations were failing from a lack of labor, forcing white plantation owners to look for new sources
of labor. Shown in this picture are cheap laborers imported from China, known as “coolies.” However, only
a handful of “coolies” were imported, and some of them took this as an opportunity to run away and have a
fresh start in a new country. The use of “coolie” labor is common to both the United States and the
Caribbean. The Caribbean started using “coolie” labor to meet the need for an organized labor force, and
their success was published in American Southern newspapers. Influenced by the West Indies, “coolies,”
under five to seven year contracts were used in mines, railroad construction, and large-scale agriculture in
America by 1865.

6. DIFFERENCE
One big difference between the U.S. and Caribbean was that governments in the countries dictated the
objectives of the freedmen. The Caribbean was not a republic, so not all whites were considered equal.
Because of this, the freed blacks did not find it wrong that they were treated as lessers, and did not
advocate for equal rights as white citizens. But in the United States, a republic where all white men were
equal, the blacks thought that they deserved the same rights. They desired equal rights as their white
countrymen because they considered themselves equal human beings. However, the Democrats of the
South had very different opinions, which led to discord and conflict within the South. This picture shows
the opinions of the South and how they clearly did not consider the whites and blacks equals, and
exemplifying the clear disconnect between the Democrats and the Republicans.

7. D
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Unlike in the Caribbean, in the South of the United States, freed blacks were eventually given similar rights to
the whites for a short time called Radical Reconstruction. The black men were granted the right to vote and
full equal political power and rights. This pictures shows a black man voting during Reconstruction. For a
“unique moment,” the Freedmen’s Bureau and many Radical Republicans “actually sought to advance the
interests of the black laborer.” However, during the last period of Reconstruction called Redemption, the
southern whites once again rose to power and enforced laws that restricted the freedoms of the black
citizens. Redemption actually reversed many of the gains made by freedmen during Radical Reconstruction.
But the unique attempt made by the United States to give equal rights to whites and blacks laid the

8. SIMILARITY
Many plantations that were once prosperous with slaves now found it difficult to stay open as the South
struggled to find a source of cheap labor. While the North still wanted inexpensive supplies for their
factories, they weren’t willing to sacrifice black rights. Plantations that had invested thousands of dollars
on slaves now had to start over, paying the slaves for their labor for the first time. Some plantations
couldn’t withstand the financial blow, and fell apart. Occurring in both the U.S. South and the Caribbean,
the collapse of plantations had a great effect on the economy. The collapse of the West Indian
economies demonstrated to the United States the need for an organized labor force that would save the
U.S. from a fate similar to the Caribbean.

9. D
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Sharecropping was a common farming technique used in the South following emancipation. Since
the Black Codes restricted the ability of freedmen to own land, they were forced to farm the land
already owned by white plantation owners. The plantation owners allowed tenants to use the land in
return for a share of the crops produced on the land. However, this forced freed blacks to be
dependent on their former masters for land, hindering their ability to become independent.
Sharecropping became the South’s replacement system of labor after the end of slavery in America,
but it was not a common practice in the Caribbean, where many time the plantation system was
reinstated or freedmen created their own subsistence farms. This picture depicts sharecroppers in
the United States’ South.

10. SIMILARITY/ CONNECTION
The plantations of the South and Caribbean were built around having extremely cheap slave
labor. So when they no longer had this slave labor, they worked on trying to get foreigners from
countries with failing economies to come in and work for cheap wages. While this labor was not
as cheap as slaves, this new overseas source of labor still proved helpful to keeping the
plantations running. The introduction of overseas labor was first used in the Caribbean, which
influenced the United States to use foreign labor as well.

11. SIMILARITY
During the latest period of
Reconstruction known as
Redemption, laws
restricting the rights and
activities of freed black
men were passed. These
laws were known as Black
Codes, which were
designed to restrict black
activity and ensure their
availability as a labor force.
Some laws gave blacks
rights, such as legalized
marriage and access to
courts, but denied them the
right to testify against
whites, to serve in state
militias, or to vote.
Other codes barred Americans from certain occupations, and some banned blacks from fishing or
hunting on private or public property. Many times these laws were set up in the favor of the plantation
owners in order to secure them a cheap labor force. For instance, many states required blacks to sign
yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested as vagrants and fined or forced into
unpaid “convict labor.” This picture depicts a freedman that violated a Black Code being auctioned off
for free labor again.This forced freedmen to work for plantations again, and seriously hindered the
ability for a freed slave to create an independent lifestyle. Similar laws were passed in the
Caribbean, including the Haitian “Code Rural,” which were even stricter than the American Black
Codes.

12. SIMILARITY
Following emancipation in both the Caribbean and the U.S. South, a recently reorganized tax
system was enforced that gave the poor the heaviest burden of taxation. Since the South could no
longer tax the slave trade, the local governments scrambled for a source of revenue. They turned to
a decrease in land taxes for white owners only. They also increased material item taxes, but yet
again exempted white plantation owners from paying taxes on much of their machinery. In an
attempt to prevent blacks from owning property, the South taxed the poor the most, and gave them
the least social services. This picture shows a typical house of a freed black man. Notice how it is
poorly constructed and small, showing the grave effects of the unfair tax systems. Homes such as
this one would be found in both the South in the United States and in the Caribbean.

13. S
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While the blacks were no longer slaves, they still lived with limited freedom. The government tried their
hardest to make it almost impossible for blacks to have jobs separate from plantations. A big hit to the blacks
was that the government greatly restricted their hunting ability. This made it quite difficult for them to become
self sufficient. To make sure the blacks weren’t idle, they were required to have proof of their employment for
the next year, and if they deserted the job at any point them would also be forfeiting their wages up to that
time. And just to make sure they had to stay on plantations, the government made it so that freedmen could
not rent land in rural areas. This pictures shows freedmen working on a plantation, demonstrating the return of
freed slaves to their former owners in order to live. Restrictive laws were common in both the U.S. South and
in the Caribbean, where labor laws were based on the need for a cheap labor force.

14. BIBLIOGRAPHY & PICTOGRAPHY
Foner, Eric. “The Politics of Freedom.” In America Compared: American History in International
Perspective, 1991.
“Auction of Freedman.” Painting. Visions of America. Accessed on June 12, 2013.
http://www.picmonkey.com/p/czVXKMBpd0N
“Black Family At House.” Painting. Visions of America. Accessed on June 11, 2013.
http://www.picmonkey.com/p/9zEHbwvv7tD.
“Black Man at House.” Photograph. Weebly.com. Accessed on June 10 2013,
http://25126822.nhd.weebly.com/uploads/9/5/6/6/9566461/1487910.jpg?402.
“Black Men Voting.” Painting. Visions of America. Accessed on June 13, 2013.
http://www.picmonkey.com/p/jZEcCaU0jYB.
“Coolie Laborers.” Photograph. Wikimedia.org. Accessed on June 10,
2013http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/84/Newly_arrived_coolies_in_Trinidad.jpg/3
00px-Newly_arrived_coolies_in_Trinidad.jpg.
“Emancipated Slaves.” Painting. Wikipedia.org. Accessed on June 11, 2013.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:FriendsOfNegroEmancipation.jpg.
“Failing Plantation.” Photograph. Prosper.edu. Accessed on June 10, 2013.
http://prosper.cofc.edu/~atlantic/afterslavery/images/c1u1.jpg.
“Foreign Laborers.” Photograph. Explore History. Accessed on June 11, 2013.
http://explorepahistory.com/kora/files/1/2/1-2-1089-25-ExplorePAHistory-a0k6l2-a_349.jpg.
“Freedmen Working in Fields.” Photograph. Sjsapush.com. Accessed on June 12, 2013.
http://www.sjsapush.com/resources/slaves-in-field.jpg.
“Poor Plantation”. Picture. Visions of America. Accessed June 10, 2013.
http://www.picmonkey.com/p/aM76Di2JWAv
“The Two Platforms.” Cartoon on Poster. Mymustardseeds.com. Accessed on June 13,
2013.http://www.mymustardseeds.com/uploads/4/3/6/6/4366955/9376206_orig.jpg?316.