Paul Bogle lived at Stony Gut, St Thomas, Jamaica. In 1834 slavery was abolished, but the white population still held the power. Bogle became a friend of landowner and politician and fellow Baptist George William Gordon, who was instrumental in Bogle being appointed deacon of Stony Gut Baptist Church in 1864. In August 1865, Gordon attacked the British governor, Edward John Eyre, for sanctioning "everything done by the higher class to the oppression of the Black people". The Morant Bay rebellion turned out to be one of the defining points in Jamaica's struggle for both political and economical enhancement. Bogle's demonstration ultimately achieved its objectives and paved the way for new attitudes.