Bill of exchange ‘Abolition of Slavery’

Slavery was abolished in Suriname and the Dutch Antilles in 1863. Perversely, it was not the people held in slavery who were compensated by the state, but the slave holders. A.D. Charlouis was able to exchange this bill for 300 guilders. However, formerly enslaved people in Suriname were not yet truly free. Everyone between the ages of 15 and 60 had to continue working for another ten years, in return for payment.