The case of Jan Paerl in 1796 highlights tensions between masters and servants in Cape colonial society and ambiguous legal statuses. Paerl contested his children being indentured following their mother's death, though indigenous children could be indentured until 25. While Khoisan theoretically had rights, equality before the law was not fully realized, and one's identity affected legal access. Contests over rights occurred between new British authorities, Dutch farmers, and slaves/Khoisan.

1. Theme Three
Cape Slavery

2. Origins of Cape Slavery
 1658 – first large shipment of slaves; for the VOC;
 1692 – privately owned slaves exceeded Company owned
slaves;
◦ Used as domestic servants and farm labourers;
◦ In demand in the wheat and wine growing districts of the south-
western Cape;
◦ Less in demand in the pastoral interior;
 Brought from across the Indian Ocean rim;
◦ South-East Asia, South Asia, Indian Ocean Islands, East African
coast;
 Chattel slaves: considered to be the property of their owners;
◦ Bought and sold;
◦ Evaluated at auctions;
◦ Bequeathed in wills to children of the owner;
 Although the Khoisan were regarded as free people, slave
and Khoisan statuses became blurred;
 Chattel not the only form of slavery;
 Degrees of “unfreeness”

3. Coercion, Control and Resistance
See Armstrong & Worden, “The Slaves, 1652-1834”, pp.
149-162.
 The control of slaves crucial to social stability;
◦ Farmers isolated;
◦ Vulnerable to slave resistance – arson, poisoning,
desertion, for example;
 The master-slave relationship nuanced; not only
coercive;
◦ Favoured slaves;
◦ Paternalism (See chapter by Shell, “The Family and
Slavery at the Cape”);
 The threat of physical punishment always present;
◦ Whipping with a sjambok, the punishment of choice;
 However, masters not legally allowed to torture
their slaves, although this did occur.

4. Amelioration and the Ending of Slavery
See Armstrong & Worden, “The Slaves, 1652-1834”, pp. 162-
168.
 1808 – the slave trade was abolished throughout the
British empire;
◦ Rise in free trade and free labour thinking;
◦ Emergence of industrial capitalism – the West Indian slave
colonies became less important to Britain’s imperial economy;
◦ Evangelical revival of the late 18th and early 19th century;
◦ Growing slave resistance and slave revolts – Saint Domingue
(1791);
 Liberals pushed for the eventual emancipation of all
slaves in British territories;
 Amelioration – prepare the slaves for freedom.
 1834 – slavery abolished;
 1834-1838 – Apprenticeship Period;
 1838 – final emancipation.

5. Ameliorative Laws at the Cape
 1820s;
◦ Concern for the physical well-being of the slaves;
◦ Limitations on the number of hours worked;
◦ Slaves permitted to marry;
◦ Children not allowed to be sold separately from their
mothers;
◦ Limitations placed on punishment;
◦ Slaves encouraged to report abuses to the authorities;
◦ 1826: Guardian of Slaves appointed;
 Increased the control of the colonial state over
labour relations;
◦ Previously, labour relations existed in the private domain.

6. Van der Spuy, “Making Himself Master:
Galant’s Rebellion Revisited”
 February 1825;
 Galant van de Kaap (26 years old);
 Led a revolt of slaves and Khoisan servants
against their master and his family;
 The slaves planned to then travel to Cape Town to
claim their freedom – which they believed was
owing to them;
 Question:
◦ Although the rebellion was led by a slave, why the
involvement of several Khoisan – who were legally free?
◦ Van der Spuy draws attention to the fact that the rebellion
was led by men against men;
◦ She argues for a gendered analysis – why?

7. Abrahams, “Disempowered to Consent: Sara
Bartman and Khoisan Slavery in the Nineteenth
Century Cape Colony and Britain”
 1810 – Bartman was taken to Britain and exhibited
to the public in “freak shows”;
 Evangelical abolitionists believed she was being
held against her will as a slave;
 She was eventually taken to Paris, where she died;
 Question
◦ Was Sara Bartman a slave?
◦ Abrahams argues that she was and draws larger
conclusions about the experiences of Cape Khoisan within
a slave society;
◦ Abrahams suggests that the majority of colonial Khoisan
were essentially slaves (unfree);
◦ How were slave and Khoisan lives similar and how were
they different?

8. In Summary
 For subaltern men, rebellion served as an
expression of masculinity;
◦ Their unfree status meant the means for expressing
masculinity were often denied to them;
◦ Important issues: punishment and families;
 Amelioration raised expectations of freedom (which
was still a decade away) for slaves and highlighted
the unfree nature of Khoisan existence;
◦ In the Cape context, slave and non-slave (Khoisan) lives
were bound together;
 Khoisan existence bore several markers of slavery;
◦ Occupied an ambiguous legal position during the early
1820s.

9. The Case of Jan Paerl (Viljoen article)
 1796, Stellenbosch
 Dispute between Paerl, a Khoikhoi man, and
Johannes Albertyn, his employer/master (a man of
mixed heritage);
◦ Albertyn wished to indenture Paerl’s four children following
the death of their mother;
 Paerl contested Albertyn’s claim with the fiscal;
◦ A classic struggle between master and servant;
 Raises questions about equality before the law in
Cape society at the turn of the 19th century.

10.  Indentured labour
◦ Due to labour shortages – chattel slaves
expensive and in short supply;
◦ Farmers demanded that children born to slave
fathers and Khoisan mothers ought to be
indentured for a certain period;
◦ Known as Bastaard-Hottentots, could be
indentured until the age of 25;
◦ Children born to Khoisan fathers and slave
mothers were legally regarded as free and were
not permitted to be indentured;
 As such, Paerl’s children could not legally
be indentured to Albertyn;
 However, Albertyn claimed it was their
mother’s dying wish.

11. The Context
 1795 – the Cape had been captured by the British;
◦ The First British Occupation (1795-1803);
 The British authorities would now have the final word over
labour-related issues;
 During the 18th century, while under VOC rule, Khoisan
labourers had been granted limited legal rights;
◦ They could sue their masters in court;
◦ For the non-payment of wages, or excessive punishment, for
example;
 Paerl bypassed the local magistrate and headed to Cape
Town to lodge his grievance;
 This period was marked by efforts to improve legal
procedures at the Cape;
◦ Due process;
◦ Equality before the law;
◦ Impartial justice.

12. Local Authorities
 Landdrosts; veldkornets;
◦ Retained by the British up until 1828;
◦ Exercised significant influence on local legal matters;
 Khoisan and slaves tried to circumvent the
authority of Landdrosts and veldkornets;
 Contests over who was entitled to legal rights and
equality before the law;
◦ Between the new British authorities, the old established Dutch
farmers and the Khoisan and slaves;
 These contests would also occur on the imperial
level over the course of the 19th century;
◦ The rights of indigenous colonial subjects – Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, etc.

13.  Importance of one’s colonial identity in determining
access to rights;
◦ Khoisan or Bastaard-Hottentot or slave;
◦ Christian or heathen;
 In theory, equality before the law superseded class,
colour, religion, wealth, status;
◦ At this time though, in practice, equality before the law did not
extend to slaves, but only to “Hottentots”;
◦ See Dooling, “The Good Opinion of Others” – the social status
of masters was an important factor in whether legal sanction
for the abuse of slaves occurred.
 There was much resistance to extending legal rights to
Khoisan from settler society and some British officials;
◦ Believed that it could spark a Khoisan insurrection;
 True equality before the law was never realised;
◦ Idealistic, but not practical in a colonial society;
◦ In the early 1800s, missionaries were to take up the challenge
and campaign on behalf of the Khoisan (Theme Four)