Jackson, Isaac

In 1833, Thomas Buxton presented a bill in Parliament that was the culmination of fifty years of abolitionist agitation, enacting an end to slavery in all territories under British dominion. Although passed in August 1833 for implementation one year later, the bill mandated that full emancipation would wait. While enslaved children were to be freed immediately, adults were required to serve out a four year "apprenticeship" under their former masters in order, as the act's supporters suggested, to compensate the masters for lost property, to encouirage "the industry of the manumitted slaves" and ensure the continuity of the labor supply, and to prevent social disorder.

In Jamaica in particular, the years following apprenticeship were marked by a protracted struggle between former slaves seeking more control over the lives and labor and plantation owners seeking more control over their labor force. During this critical period, Isaac Jackson was engaged as resident manager for the business affairs of as many as a dozen estates in northwestern Jamaica, most of which were engaged in the production of sugar, rum, and cattle.

From the guide to the Isaac Jackson Letterbooks, 1839-1843, (American Philosophical Society)