The evening of October 11th, 1736 came and went like any other night on British colonial Antigua.[1] The King’s annual ball, celebrating King George II’s ascension to the throne, had been set for that night. But it had been suddenly switched to the 30th, instead, because of the unexpected death of a general’s son at St. Christopher’s.[2] Unknown to the white inhabitants, their small change of plans had saved their lives: a group of enslaved people as well as a few free Black men had planned a violent revolt to coincide with the ball, aiming to take over the island and kill all the white inhabitants.[3] The revolt, had it succeeded, would have predated the Haitian Revolution by over fifty years as the first successful enslaved insurrection to overthrow a colonial government. However, due to the schedule change, the conspiracy was left vulnerable. After only a few short days, it was uncovered by the white masters and island officials.[4]

Two of the free Black men implicated in the conspiracy were Benjamin and William “Billy” Johnson. Evidence against them, however, was inadmissible.[5] The only testimonies that linked the brothers to the conspiracy were from enslaved conspirators, which was not allowed in trials of free Antiguans.[6] Governor William Mathew and the justices of the peace overseeing the trial chose to use a bill of attainder as a means to get around the evidentiary problem and pursue litigation against the brothers.[7] A bill of attainder, a relic of old English common law, was a legal writ primarily used by Parliament against those suspected of conspiring against the Crown. Because it could be a legislative act, the writ could circumvent due process: it had the power to simultaneously charge and convict the accused, while punishing them with loss of property and rights, along with the possibility of execution.[8] On appeal, however, the Crown, in conjunction with the Privy Council and the Board of Trade and Plantations, repealed the writs of attainder.[9]

The acts of attainder used on the Johnson brothers permitted the inadmissible enslaved evidence. It also moved the conviction from a courtroom to a legislative context (the Antiguan assembly). I argue that the bills represented much more than a short-term solution in the aftermath of an unsuccessful insurrection; rather, the bills, in conjunction with their successful appeal, revealed the precarious nature of British common law as a tool of the empire. For the expansive empire, the rule of law was necessary for order, both in the metropole and in the colonies. However, the use of attainder in the case of the Johnson brothers was brash, and had the potential to discredit and devalue the legal instrument. To be effective, the law had to be uniform across the colonies in order to be seen as legitimate and powerful – the use of attainder in Antigua had to be repealed since it was an inversion of the legal principle. In essence, a writ of attainder could not have different meanings across the Empire; if the case had been allowed to exist, it would have voided the meaning overall of the writ. The Johnson case illuminates how even a relatively small case in Antigua could affect conversations surrounding plural legal systems at play during the eighteenth century.

[1] Gaspar, David Barry. “The Antigua Slave Conspiracy of 1736: A Case Study of the Origins of Collective Resistance,” The William and Mary Quarterly, Vol. 35, no.2 (April 1978): 308-323, 308.

[2] Vernon, John, Ashton Warner, Nath. Gilbert, and Robert Arbuthnot. A Genuine Narrative of the Intended Conspiracy of the Negroes at Antigua: Extracted from an Authentic Copy of a Report, made to the Chief Governor of the Carabee Islands, by the Commissioners or Judges appointed to try the Conspirators. Dublin: Arno Press, 1972, 3-24, 10.; “Extract of another Letter from Antigua, Dated October 24, 1736." Boston Gazette (Boston, Massachusetts), no. 881, November 29, 1736. Readex: America's Historical Newspapers.

[3] Gaspar, David Barry. Bondmen and Rebels: A Study of Master-Slave Relations in Antigua. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985, 4-5.

[4] Gaspar, “The Antigua Slave Conspiracy of 1736,” 309.

[5] George II, King of England. Order of Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs. Whitehall. Vol. 44. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 1738.

[6] Governor, William Mathew. Governor William Mathew to Alured Popple, Enclosing the Following. St Christopher's. Vol. 43. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 1737.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Blackstone, Sir William. The Commentaries on the Laws of England. Vol. 2, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1765, s. 380.

[9] Gaspar, Bondmen and Rebels, 58–9; Council of Trade, and Plantations. Council of Trade and Plantations to Committee of Privy Council. Whitehall. Vol. 44. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Taylor & Francis Ltd, 1738.