(Parliamentary Act, West Indies). Toleration Laws. Copies of the Laws passed by the several Colonial Legislatures, for the Relief of the Catholics, the Removal of the Disabilities of the Jews, and of Free Persons of Colour, During the Last Six Years

Jewish settlers in Barbados, West Indies, were subject to various restrictions from the very start of the Community. Most often the agitators for these restrictions were their Christian business rivals, who controlled the colonial legislature. The English Naturalization Act of 1740 afforded the Jews of Barbados various securities, but they continued to be subject to special taxation and other indignities. During the first decades of the 19th-century the Community enjoyed great prosperity and it was during this period that a series of colonial Acts greatly ameliorated the Jews’ position. However, following a devastating hurricane in 1831, the Community began to decline and many of its members resettled in the United States. See JE, Vol. II, pp. 523-5; Marcus, Colonial American Jew, 100-113