In 1789 revolution broke out in France. Its leaders proclaimed that all men are born free and equal in rights. In Saint-Domingue, every group heard that message differently, and each tried to use it for its own ends.
The Declaration of the Rights of Man
In August 1789 the French National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. Its first article declared: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.” It proclaimed liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression as natural rights. The declaration said nothing specific about the colonies or slavery, but its words raised an obvious question. Did they apply to the people of Saint-Domingue?
The Friends of the Blacks
Some French reformers said yes, at least in part. In 1788 the journalist Jacques-Pierre Brissot and others founded the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, which campaigned to end the slave trade and, eventually, slavery itself, though most members favored gradual change. They faced powerful opposition from planters and merchants, organized in a lobby known as the Club Massiac, who argued that the colonies' wealth, and France's, depended on slavery.
Every group's revolution
In Saint-Domingue, the revolution meant different things to different people.
- White planters wanted more self-government, freedom from French trade restrictions, and above all the right to keep slavery. Some even talked of independence.
- Poor whites embraced revolutionary slogans to demand power against the rich, while insisting on their superiority over people of color.
- Free people of color demanded the equal rights the declaration seemed to promise. Most did not at first call for abolishing slavery.
- Enslaved people heard news and rumors of the revolution, including rumors that the king had granted them freedom that planters were hiding.
Raimond and Ogé
Two free men of color took the case for equality to Paris. Julien Raimond, a wealthy indigo planter, lobbied the National Assembly with careful arguments and documents. Vincent Ogé, a merchant, also pressed the case in Paris, then returned to Saint-Domingue in October 1790. When the colonial authorities refused to grant free men of color the vote, Ogé and his ally Jean-Baptiste Chavannes led a small armed revolt. It was quickly defeated. In February 1791, at Cap-Français, Ogé and Chavannes were executed by being broken on the wheel, a punishment of extreme cruelty. Their deaths shocked many in France.
Decrees and reversals
In May 1791, the National Assembly granted political rights to free men of color born of two free parents, a small fraction of the group. White colonists furiously refused to accept even this. The Assembly reversed itself in September 1791. Only in April 1792, after the uprising of enslaved people had begun, did France grant full citizenship to all free men of color.
Meanwhile, the colony slid toward chaos. White factions fought each other, free people of color organized militias, and the colonial authorities lost control.
How news traveled
News of the revolution crossed the Atlantic by ship, taking weeks to arrive. Planters tried to keep it from the enslaved, but sailors talked in the ports, and enslaved servants overheard conversations at their masters' tables. Rumors spread through the plantations: that the king had granted enslaved people three free days a week, or had abolished the whip, and that the planters were refusing to obey. Whether or not these rumors were true, they told enslaved people that the colonial order was divided and that change might be possible.
Ideas and their limits
The French Revolution's language of universal rights was a powerful weapon, but its leaders were divided over how far it should reach. Many who spoke passionately of liberty were unwilling to extend it to enslaved people, whether from racism, fear of economic ruin, or the belief that change must be slow. The gap between principle and practice was not unique to France. In the United States, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that all men are created equal while its author, Thomas Jefferson, enslaved hundreds of people.
Worked example: does the declaration apply?
Imagine a debate in Paris in 1790 over whether the Declaration of the Rights of Man applies to Saint-Domingue. Lay out the arguments as their advocates would have made them.
- The planters' lobby: The colonies are different. Their economy depends on slavery, and France's prosperity depends on the colonies. Applying the declaration there would ruin France and cause bloodshed. Each colony should make its own laws.
- The gradual reformers: Slavery contradicts the declaration, but sudden abolition would be dangerous. End the slave trade first, extend rights to free people of color, and prepare for gradual emancipation over decades.
- Free people of color: We are free, we own property, we pay taxes, and many of us have served in the militia. The declaration says men are equal in rights. Denying us those rights betrays its principles.
- The enslaved: No voice from them was heard in the Assembly. Their answer would come in August 1791, not in words but in revolt.
Notice how each side, except the last, argued within the framework of the declaration, stretching or limiting its meaning. Universal principles are only as universal as people make them. The Haitian Revolution would test whether “all men are born free and equal” meant all.