Emancipation of the slaves has placed great…

Emancipation of the slaves has placed great strains on the representation system.

Designed originally for colonies of British settlers, the assemblies no longer represent the majority of citizens but merely a small minority of the oligarchy.

Sometimes these oligarchies are too small to provide the necessary administrative apparatus, which explains the shifting nature of colonial government in some of the smaller islands and the constant quest of the British government to reduce administrative costs.

The power of the purse, once astutely wielded by the planter class, has declined along with the value of the export economy, denying to the assemblies their former intimidating power over governors.

The British government has always been uneasy about the colonial representative assemblies, especially given the increasing number of non-Europeans in the population.

In Jamaica, just before the collapse of the system in 1865, the assembly has forty-nine members representing twenty-eight constituencies elected by fourteen hundred and fifty-seven voters.

Only nineteen hundred and three registered voters exist in a population of four hundred thousand—nearly half of whom are adult males.