Colonial settlers petitioned the King against forced separation of families from their children

Evidence

But many others did. When the final petition arrived at the Resident’s office, there were nine appendices with the signatures of over two hundred male supporters. Even with its tempered amendments, the petition was a bold document, forceful in its claims. After praising the King’s decision to call for constitutional reform in mid-March, it read: … We would like to turn your Majesty’s high attention to an institution that has already wounded so many parents deep in their heart; that has made so many children born in the Indies unhappy; has destroyed the future of all who receive their upbringing in [the Indies]; and is horribly affecting the moral and religious state of society… . [The Royal Decree of 1842 forces parents to send] their children away some thousands of miles from them at a very early age and to entrust them to the care of strangers and to exclude themselves from contributing to their moral formation, education and intellectual development. Experience has taught what the consequences of this are and many of the undersigned have all too painfully felt this most insufferable parental grief. — Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ Epistemic…, 513

Categorization

• SHARE: For someone interested in colonial petitionary politics: the forced-exile-of-children decree (1842) is a specific, well-documented grievance that drove colonial reform politics.