Power, Policy, and Petitions in Jamaica, 1664–1834

Abstract This chapter examines petitioning in Jamaican politics between 1664 and 1840, aligning it with wider work on the operation of colonial politics in the British Atlantic on the one hand, and the agency available to marginalised groups on the other. Using a quantitative study of petitions, it demonstrates that the volume of petitions rose and fell roughly in line with legislative initiatives and spending by the colonial Assembly, testifying to the importance of the petition as a political and administrative mechanism in colonial rule. Case studies of petitioning by free people of colour and the Jewish community suggest that it was often an important way for groups denied direct political representation to raise their concerns with the colonial legislature, though the success of the process of petitioning often reflected wider political circumstances. The petition was therefore an important mechanism within colonial society, but also a double-edged sword – one that could be used by groups to assert agency but also to deny it to others. The analysis therefore qualifies the emphasis on the growth of petitioning in the 18th and 19th centuries as a vehicle for protest and political agency from groups excluded from the franchise or other political rights.