Slavocracy facts for kids

A slavocracy (say: slav-AH-kruh-see) or plantocracy (say: plan-TAH-kruh-see) was a type of government or ruling group. In these societies, the people in charge were mostly slave owners or owners of large farms called plantations.

Many early European colonies in the New World (which means the Americas) were like plantocracies. These colonies often had a small number of European settlers. They relied heavily on enslaved people, mostly from West Africa, for labor. They also used indentured servants, who were people who worked for a period to pay off a debt. Later, they also used freed Black people and poor white sharecroppers for work.

These powerful groups of slave owners strongly opposed the movement to end slavery. This movement was called the abolitionist movement.

The West India Interest

One important group that represented these slave owners was called the "West India Interest". This group was funded by many plantocracies. They worked hard to influence the Parliament (the government) in the United Kingdom. Their goal was to stop slavery from being ended.

This group is believed to have delayed the end of the slave trade. The slave trade was when people were bought and sold as slaves. They managed to delay its end from the 1790s until 1806–1808. They also delayed the complete freedom of enslaved people (called emancipation) in the 1820s. Instead, a policy called "Amelioration" was put in place from 1823 to 1833. This policy aimed to slightly improve conditions for enslaved people, but it did not end slavery. The "West India Interest" group succeeded in delaying the end of slavery until the 1830s.

Related Topics

• Confederate States of America
• London Society of West India Planters and Merchants
• Slave Power, a term used by people who wanted to end slavery in the United States during the 1840s and 1850s. They used it to say that Southern farm owners had too much political power.
• Slavery in Brazil
• Sugar plantations in the Caribbean
• Maroon (people)