These developments led to various measures to ameliorate the condition of the Free Coloreds and the slaves in the Danish West Indies. The most significant reforms were the 1834 removal of all legal restrictions against the Free Colored and the Country School Ordinance of 1839, which mandated free and compulsory education for slave children.9 In 1847 a Danish royal decree of Christian VIII (1839-1848) promised full freedom for all slaves in twelve years. It caused great dissatisfaction among the slaves. Mindful of the emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies and of the world-wide movement against the institution of slavery, they were not willing to wait an additional twelve years for their full freedom. All this discontent and frustration led to a slave rebellion on St. Croix beginning on July 2, 1848. Its main leaders were Moses "Buddhoe" Gottlieb and Martin King. The serious and widespread nature of the uprising led to Governor-General Peter von Scholten's Emancipation Proclamation of July 3, 1848.10 The most important provisions of the Emancipation Proclamation of July 3, 1848 were as follows: 1. All the slaves in the Danish West Indies were emancipated. 2. The former slaves who lived on the plantations were permitted the use of their houses and provision grounds for the period of three months after the date of the emancipation. 3. The provision of labor by the former slaves had to be paid for by their employers in accordance with a mutual agreement. 4. The allowance of food, clothing, etc. formerly provided to the former slaves by their former masters ceased. 5. The former owners had to provide temporarily for the maintenance of the old and infirm former slaves who were unable to work until a further decision on the matters was made.11 The Emancipation Proclamation of July 3, 1848 was a most central document in the history of the Virgin Islands for several reasons. First and most importantly, the nightmare of one human being owning another as if he or she were personal property was ended. Secondly, the laborer had some say, albeit as it turned out very little, in the conditions of work, namely compensation. Thirdly, the emancipation of the slaves gave them the opportunity to use their own human ingenuity, initiative, talents and resourcefulness to begin for themselves and their descendants the long, hard climb up from the bottom pits of humanity to greater and greater heights of achievements in various fields of endeavor in the Virgin Islands and elsewhere.