legislators “enacted that any Negro who had been a year in the island and absented himself for thirty days should have one of his feet cut off.” In 1767, St. Vincent “required every slaveowner to search the Negro houses for runaways every fortnight.” In 1766, in the French West Indies, it was ruled that “thirty lashes and eight days in goal for slaves in whose dwellings runaways were apprehended.” Many of these runaway slaves formed maroon societies. They developed their own settlements on undeveloped land or they joined with the Caribs. In 1639, St. Kitts had a slave revolt and many slaves fled to form a maroon society in the mountains. But the maroon fort was stormed and taken by French soldiers and many of the rebels died . In Dominica many slaves abandoned the plantations and joined the Caribs on the east of the island. However, most of the maroon societies and escaped slaves were living a dream and could wake up at any moment. When escaping slaves became a substantial problem, the slave owners could simply call on the militia or form groups that easily eradicated the maroon settlements. Except for a few occasions. When the English took over Jamaica, many of the blacks on the island fled to the interior forming a maroon society. After trying to exterminate the maroons for over seventy years, there was no alternative for the English but to sign a peace treaty with the maroons in 1739. The terms of the treaty resulted in a Maroon state within Jamaica. Similarly, in Surinam the Dutch were forced to sign a treaty with a maroon society in 1749. Although, a few maroon societies were successful in gaining special status and rights, they challenged the slave system strictly for their own benefit; not demanding any far-reaching emancipation. In fact, they actually helped prevent further desertions from the plantations in order to maintain their freedoms.Physical revolt against slavery was very common. I...
