Abstract
The free mulattoes and negroes constituted an element for which there was little room from an economic viewpoint in a society which had the plantation system as socio-economic basis. There were virtually no opportunities for a class of free citizens in a society in which a small minority of Europeans as leaders and a large group of slaves were engaged in agriculture to cater chiefly for a foreign market. In a society such as this a middle class was able to play no more than a minor role. It could only consist of a number of craftsmen, clerks and tradesmen. In the first years of the Colony’s existence craftsmen were exclusively Europeans, but when later mulatto and negro slaves learnt the different trades on the estates it became a general rule for estate owners to have their own artisans among their slaves, so that the number of free persons practising a trade remained small until the beginning of the 19th century. Jews were usually employed as clerks and also monopolized the retail trade; hence they made up of old a small middle class in the Colony inasmuch as they were not estate owners or wealthy merchants.
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References
For the data up to 1864 cf. P. Melvill de Carnbee, Moniteur des Indes,Vol. I, p. 134, and Bijdragen tot de Kennis der Nederlandsche en Vreemde Koloniin,Utrecht, 1847, Statistieke opgaven betreffende Suriname,p. 437. For the data for the years 1849–1862: Koloniale Verslagen.
J. D. Kunitz, Surinam und Seine Bewohner. Erfurt, 1805, p. 64. Von Sack, op. cit. I, p. 184.
See Governor General Wichers’ letter to Government Secretary Munter dated 14th December, 1784, Public Record Office: Verspreide West-Indische Stukken, 427.
B. de Gaay Fortman, Een vijfdaags bezoek in Suriname in 1825. W.I. Gids, 1948, p. 15.
Public Record Office. Missives en Bijlagen van het Ministerie van Kolonien,1837, I, W.I. Bezittingen,No. 59.
Mauricius’ Journal, 7th July, 1743.
Van Panhuys, W.I. Gids,1934, p. 160. (Dagboek van Lammens).
G. van Lennep Coster. Aanteekeningen gehouden gedurende mijn werblijf in de West-Indiën in de jaren 1837–1840. Amsterdam, 1842, p. 40.
On extravagance among mulattos see Van Panhuys, W.I. Gids,1934, p. 160. Clause No. 51 of Governor Van Panhuys’ instructions reads as follows: “He will see to it with the utmost attentiveness that all ordinances are strictly observed, as regards free persons, both mulattos and negroes, or emancipated persons respectively; he will have all assemblies forbidden by the law carefully supervised and prevented, and will try as much as possible to keep the increasing extravagance among them within moderate bounds.” We see at the same time in these instructions how much distrust of the manumitted person there was; this also became apparent at the founding of the Maatschappij van Weldadigheid (Benevolent Society), cf. p. 107. That there was tension between whites and mulattos around this time is further testified by the fact that in 1819 a quarrel arose between the Rifles of the garrison and the coloured members of the civic guard, as a result of which a state of emergency was declared for three consecutive days, cf. Teenstra, Landbouw I p. 61. On “mulatto dances” see Beijer, op. cit.,p. 81.
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van Lier, R.A.J. (1971). The Free Mulattoes and Negroes and the Position of the Manumitted. In: Frontier Society. Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0647-2_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-0647-2_6
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