Tag: French Revolution
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The forgotten story of abolition in revolutionary France – the first emancipation
When news of what Sonthonax and Polverel had done reached Paris at the beginning of 1794, France’s third revolutionary legislature, the National Convention, finally did what Mirabeau had urged their predecessors to do in 1789: It decreed the abolition of slavery in all the French colonies. The abolition decree passed on Feb. 4, 1794, was…
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The Death of Slavery, The First Dawn of Freedom
An organized clandestine underground network to resist the slave state was not inevitable. The path of fatalism and despair, a pale specter that still haunts many would-be rebels today, was just as likely. In those days, given the seemingly low odds of success, an overwhelming feeling of helplessness doubtless consumed many hearts. Courageous people, most…
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