Federation's Rise and Fall

Although its motto stated “To Dwell Together in Unity,” the islands of the Federation were not completely unified. The Federation contained no customs union, and there were disagreement over policies, poor administrative structures imposed by Britain. Moreover, each country comprised of a separate economy and many of them depended on grants from the United Kingdom, hence all these factors led to the downfall of this Federation. Many British colonies became impatient with the United Kingdom as vital projects of development lacked funding, causing these countries to view Britain as the mother country subduing their progress and advancements.

Additionally, due to the weak federal structure when struggles arose between Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica as well as the smaller islands due to that of politics, they could not sustain themselves as a consequence this was another reason it failed. In 1961 Jamaica voted to become free of the Federation as the country feared that it would become overwhelmed with the burden of the less economically developed countries soon after Trinidad and Tobago followed. This withdrawal severely affected the economy of the Federation as these two islands were the main contributors to the financial support of the Federation.