Most freedmen were prevented from voting by high poll taxes, and their living conditions had worsened following crop damage by floods, cholera and smallpox epidemics, and a long drought.

Officials then issued a warrant for the arrest of preacher Bogle, who had called for reforms, and was charged with inciting to riot.

Governor Edward John Eyre declared martial law in the area, ordering in troops to hunt down the rebels.

[2] The governor had George William Gordon, a mixed-race representative of the parish in the House of Assembly, arrested in Kingston and brought back to Morant Bay, where he tried the politician under martial law.

The violent suppression and numerous executions generated a fierce debate in England, with some protesting about the unconstitutional actions of the governor John Eyre, and others praising him for his response to a crisis.

The poll tax was introduced by the colonial government to disfranchise the majority of emancipated Jamaicans, being fearful of causing an anti-colonial uprising (such as the Haitian Revolution) if they granted too much political power.

In 1864 there were several floods that ruined many crops, while 1865 marked the end of a decade in which the island had been overwhelmed by plagues of cholera and smallpox.

"[6] In 1865, Dr. Edward Underhill, Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society of Great Britain, wrote a letter to the Colonial Office in London in order to describe Jamaica's poor state of affairs for the mass of people.

In August 1865 Bogle led a deputation of peasants from St. Thomas-in-the-East an 87 kilometer (55 mile) march to the capital, Spanish Town, hoping to meet with the governor, John Eyre to discuss issues.

[2] On 7 October 1865, a black man was put on trial in the Morant Bay courthouse, charged with trespassing on a long-abandoned sugar plantation.

The poor black Jamaicans of the parish were angered by this additional example of land inequality, and marched on the courthouse under the leadership of Bogle.

[2] When the group arrived at the courthouse in Morant Bay, they were met by local officials and a small and inexperienced volunteer militia, gathered from personnel from the plantations.

[2] In response, Governor John Eyre sent government troops, under Brigadier-General Alexander Nelson,[10] to hunt down the poorly armed rebels and bring Bogle back to Morant Bay for trial.

[12] Believing that the blacks could not have planned such events themselves (as he shared the widespread white assumption of the time that they were not capable of it),[2] Governor John Eyre had representative George William Gordon arrested.

[13] The trial and execution of Gordon via martial law, following the excesses of suppressing the rebellion, added to the outrage felt by many in Britain.

In the end, the soldiers killed 439 black Jamaicans directly, and they arrested 354 more (including Paul Bogle) who were later executed, many without proper trials.

The soldiers burned thousands of homes belonging to black Jamaicans without any justifiable reason, leaving families homeless throughout the parish.

Part of the controversy related to whether observers believed that blacks had planned the uprising on their own, or whether George William Gordon and possibly whites had led them.

[20] Since the 1830s free people of color, like Gordon, Edward Jordon, and Robert Osborn, had been elected to the Jamaican House of Assembly in increasing numbers, and that alarmed the colonial authorities.

Reggae artists Third World featured the title track "1865 (96° In The Shade)" on their second album in 1977; the song described the events of the Morant Bay rebellion from the point of view of Paul Bogle and George William Gordon: You caught me on the loose, fighting to be free, now you show me a noose on a cotton tree, entertainment for you, martyrdom for me ...

Some may suffer and some may burn, but I know that one day my people will learn, as sure as the sun shines, way up in the sky, today I stand here a victim – the truth is I'll never die.