text: 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. In the wake of the Morant Bay Rebellion, Eyre, with the support of the Colonial Office, persuaded the Assembly to renounce its charter, thus ending two centuries of elected representation in the Colony of Jamaica.
  White planters were appointed by the governor. However, this move deprived the black majority of a voice in the colony's government, and it was condemned by Jordon and Osborn. Jamaica became a Crown Colony, under direct rule from London.
  Legacy
  In 1969, Paul Bogle and George William Gordon were among several men who were named as Jamaican National Heroes, the highest honour in the nation.
  The Rebellion in popular culture
  Several Jamaicans in the first half of the 20th century wrote about the Rebellion:
  H. G. de Lisser, long-time editor of the newspaper The Gleaner, wrote a novel entitled Revenge (1918). It is now out of print.
  Roger Mais, best known for his 1954 Rastafarian novel Brother Man, wrote the play George William Gordon, about the mixed-race politician who was tried under martial law and executed following the Rebellion, the play was first staged in 1938.
  V. S. Reid devoted his novel New Day (1949) to commemorating the rebellion.