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A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787 - 1804
The idea of universal rights is often understood as the product of Europe, but as Laurent Dubois demonstrates, it was profoundly shaped by the struggle over slavery and citizenship in the French Caribbean. Dubois examines this Caribbean revolution by focusing on Guadeloupe, where, in the early 1790s, insurgents on the island fought for equality and freedom and formed alliances with besieged Republicans. In 1794, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire, ushering in a new colonial order in which all people, regardless of race, were entitled to the same rights.
But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti.
The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti.
The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
472 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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About the author
Laurent Dubois
119 books45 followersLaurent Dubois (PhD. University of Michigan) is associate professor of history at Michigan State University. His book A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787–1804 won the American Historical Association Prize in Atlantic History and the John Edwin Fagg Award. He is also the author of Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution, which was a Christian Science Monitor Noteworthy Book of 2004 and a Los Angeles Times Best Book of 2004, Les esclaves de la République: l'histoire oubliée de la première emancipation, 1787–1794, and Haiti: The Aftershocks of History.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/lauren...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/lauren...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 15, 2023
This is an incredibly important book to read and understand.
The book talks about the slave uprisings in the French Caribbean during the French Revolution and beyond.
So why is this book important?
The French Colony of Saint Domonique is the only slave uprising that successfully overthrew the overlords. While the aftermath of this uprising in the United States is not explored in the book, the ripples of the war directly affected the course of American History. The aftermath on what became known as Haiti became the basis of horror stories and nightmares in the United States for the next 6 decades.
So if this book doesn't discuss that, then why is it important?
When the subject of slavery is brought up, the focus is traditionally on The United States, Cuba, and Brazil. Slavery among the English and Spanish colonies was much more widespread and different from those of other European Powers such as France.
Slavery did exist in the French Colonies. It looked very different than it did elsewhere. French slaves could own property and the slave owners were expected to respect the slave:s property. For example, if a slave purchased a tree on the slave owner, the slave to reap the rewards from that tree. The slave owner could not cut the slave's tree down---even if it was on the owner's property---without the slave's permission.
Unlike in America wherein the status of a child was based upon the mother's status, in French colonies, it was based upon the father's. French slaves had more rights and freedom's than American or Spanish slaves.
Upon gaining freedom, the gens de couleur, essentially acquired citizenship on the islands. They had the rights and freedoms of those born free. Leading up to the revolution, many of the freedoms gens de couleur possessed were curtailed, but nothing compared to the restrictions placed on their American counterparts.
One of the more striking stories in the book occured at the start of the Revolution---and it illuminates the differences. About a hundred slaves rose up against their white oppressors and murdered them in the night. These slaves started walking towards the island capital whereupon they were confronted by a military unit. The rebels announced themselves as free citizens of France. Instead of massacring them where they stood, the French troops let them keep their weapons and marched them back to the capital. In the island capital, they were placed on a form of house arrest while the authorities decided what to do with them. During the house arrest, they were allowed to carry their weapons and roam the city freely.
In the end, the slave revolts were only successful on two islands---Haiti and Guadaloupe. Haiti has earned the unique distinction of being the only slave uprising to permanently cast off slavery and to remain free. Guadaloupe earned the unique distinction of being the only population that won it's freedom, and then allowed slavery to return, despite being the dominant race.
The book is very good and informative, but it's density makes it a challenging read. There are a lot of facts and information that is told in a somewhat monotone voice. That being said, a strong 3.5 stars.
NOTE: The fact that slavery was different does not change the fact that it was still race based slavery.
The book talks about the slave uprisings in the French Caribbean during the French Revolution and beyond.
So why is this book important?
The French Colony of Saint Domonique is the only slave uprising that successfully overthrew the overlords. While the aftermath of this uprising in the United States is not explored in the book, the ripples of the war directly affected the course of American History. The aftermath on what became known as Haiti became the basis of horror stories and nightmares in the United States for the next 6 decades.
So if this book doesn't discuss that, then why is it important?
When the subject of slavery is brought up, the focus is traditionally on The United States, Cuba, and Brazil. Slavery among the English and Spanish colonies was much more widespread and different from those of other European Powers such as France.
Slavery did exist in the French Colonies. It looked very different than it did elsewhere. French slaves could own property and the slave owners were expected to respect the slave:s property. For example, if a slave purchased a tree on the slave owner, the slave to reap the rewards from that tree. The slave owner could not cut the slave's tree down---even if it was on the owner's property---without the slave's permission.
Unlike in America wherein the status of a child was based upon the mother's status, in French colonies, it was based upon the father's. French slaves had more rights and freedom's than American or Spanish slaves.
Upon gaining freedom, the gens de couleur, essentially acquired citizenship on the islands. They had the rights and freedoms of those born free. Leading up to the revolution, many of the freedoms gens de couleur possessed were curtailed, but nothing compared to the restrictions placed on their American counterparts.
One of the more striking stories in the book occured at the start of the Revolution---and it illuminates the differences. About a hundred slaves rose up against their white oppressors and murdered them in the night. These slaves started walking towards the island capital whereupon they were confronted by a military unit. The rebels announced themselves as free citizens of France. Instead of massacring them where they stood, the French troops let them keep their weapons and marched them back to the capital. In the island capital, they were placed on a form of house arrest while the authorities decided what to do with them. During the house arrest, they were allowed to carry their weapons and roam the city freely.
In the end, the slave revolts were only successful on two islands---Haiti and Guadaloupe. Haiti has earned the unique distinction of being the only slave uprising to permanently cast off slavery and to remain free. Guadaloupe earned the unique distinction of being the only population that won it's freedom, and then allowed slavery to return, despite being the dominant race.
The book is very good and informative, but it's density makes it a challenging read. There are a lot of facts and information that is told in a somewhat monotone voice. That being said, a strong 3.5 stars.
NOTE: The fact that slavery was different does not change the fact that it was still race based slavery.
September 28, 2023
When the French Revolution proclaimed "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity," what did that mean for the French colonies founded on slave-worked plantations?
The answer, to the slaves themselves who eagerly took the news to heart, was quite simple. To the initial victorious revolutionaries eager to reform the world around Reason, it was also simple: they sent new governors to the Caribbean with orders to proclaim freedom, and enlist former slaves in the revolutionary army to enforce that freedom. For a while, as the former slaves set themselves up in happy freedom and the former slaveowners fled to nearby British islands in terror, everything looked glorious.
However, the new French Republic wanted the plantations to keep running. It needed the commodities and money. So, the same governors started mandating the freedmen stay on the fields to work. Matters became worse when the disarray of revolutionary finances meant their pay was late. They more and more ignored these orders, objecting on behalf of the Revolution's own promise. This betrayal and this odd juxtaposition - which Dubois emphasizes in detail - became even worse when the new Emperor Napoleon officially reinstated slavery. The local Black armies in Haiti kept fighting and gained a bloody and costly independence, but in the other colonies, they were defeated and killed or reenslaved.
Dubois tells this story step by step, with references to all the French Caribbean but an emphasis on the island of Guadeloupe as that's what he's researched the most. I was eager to read about each notable deed in this back-and-forth struggle, and each colorful character he highlights (by their deeds, with occasional digressions speculating on what we can infer about their character). The one biggest flaw is that there're just so many characters and deeds: I could have used more summary overviews to remind me who was who and what was what. Still, this's an able telling of a good story.
The answer, to the slaves themselves who eagerly took the news to heart, was quite simple. To the initial victorious revolutionaries eager to reform the world around Reason, it was also simple: they sent new governors to the Caribbean with orders to proclaim freedom, and enlist former slaves in the revolutionary army to enforce that freedom. For a while, as the former slaves set themselves up in happy freedom and the former slaveowners fled to nearby British islands in terror, everything looked glorious.
However, the new French Republic wanted the plantations to keep running. It needed the commodities and money. So, the same governors started mandating the freedmen stay on the fields to work. Matters became worse when the disarray of revolutionary finances meant their pay was late. They more and more ignored these orders, objecting on behalf of the Revolution's own promise. This betrayal and this odd juxtaposition - which Dubois emphasizes in detail - became even worse when the new Emperor Napoleon officially reinstated slavery. The local Black armies in Haiti kept fighting and gained a bloody and costly independence, but in the other colonies, they were defeated and killed or reenslaved.
Dubois tells this story step by step, with references to all the French Caribbean but an emphasis on the island of Guadeloupe as that's what he's researched the most. I was eager to read about each notable deed in this back-and-forth struggle, and each colorful character he highlights (by their deeds, with occasional digressions speculating on what we can infer about their character). The one biggest flaw is that there're just so many characters and deeds: I could have used more summary overviews to remind me who was who and what was what. Still, this's an able telling of a good story.
February 1, 2016
An interesting account of slavery and emancipation in the French Caribbean during and after the French Revolution. Unique in that it focused more on Guadeloupe and Martinique than on Haiti.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews