#sonthonax

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14 septembre 1796 : Toussaint-Louverture se débarrasse de Sonthonax et de Laveaux.- Toussaint-Louverture fait…

Today in Haitian History - August 29, 1793 - French commissioner Sonthonax abolishes slavery in the North of Saint-Domingue 

By August 1793, the situation was progressing rapidly in Saint-Domingue. Not only had the colony's main labour force and source of income rebelled violently, Great Britain and Spain, both at war with France and realising that the country could no longer effectively control the upheaval in its colony, decided to take this opportunity to invade it. While most of the Whites colonists later entered in an alliance with Great Britain (France's mortal enemy), many Blacks insurgents, under the leadership of revolutionaries such as Jean-François, Biassou and Toussaint Louverture, (temporary) joined the Spanish in hopes of gained unconditional freedom. 

By freeing the slaves (who, thus far, rebelled against their masters, not yet France), Sonthonax hoped that, in exchange for their (partial) liberty, they would in turn abandon any association with the Spanish (or any entity opposing France) and instead give their services to the metropole. 

Who first abolished slavery in Saint-Domingue (Haiti)?

While the slave uprising of August 1791 precipitated events in Saint-Domingue, slavery was never properly abolished until 1793-1794. Arriving to Saint-Domingue in September 1792, it was the French commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax who gradually granted slaves manumission.

Without clearly making his intentions known to the metropole, now fully busy with the upheaval of its own Revolution, in June of 1793, Sonthonax offered freedom to all slaves who joined the French army. The goal was initially to counterattack white colonists who displayed clear signs of defiance and disloyalty against France and later entered in an alliance with the British. Although Sonthonax’s action deeply troubled the white population and the other French commissioners, he believed that slaves were perhaps the most devoted soldiers of the French army could think of (since they had nothing to loose and would be grateful to France for giving them freedom).

By August 1793, slavery was gradually abolished in the North of Saint-Domingue (where the original slave revolt begin and where most of the agitation took place). Unable to act differently, Étienne Polverel, the other important French commissioner of the island, also abolished slavery in the West and South and by the end of the year, most of the slaves in Saint-Domingue were freed.

While this gesture was exceptional and placed Saint-Domingue in an extraordinarily position towards France and its other Caribbean sister islands, on February 4, 1794, the National Convention abolished slavery in the entire French Empire, single-handedly pushing the rhetoric of Rights of Man to its most extreme and universal form. This decision, however, was later overturned by Napoleon’s seizure of power and a pro-slavery lobby in the French government.

Léger-Félicité Sonthonax (1763-1813) * Was a French Revolutionary

* Was already writing about racial equality and total abolition of slavery in 1790.

* Was sent to Saint-Domingue (Haïti) in 1792 in order to enforce equality between white and "coloured" free men, and to repress a slave rebellion. Put much more energy in the first point than the last.

* Was a manipulative little shit and used racist republicans against royalists before discarding them. It doesn't give me any sympathy for racist republicans.

* Was still totally enthusiastic and idealist (and some would say integrist, but it's for a good cause) despite the manipulativeness.

* Loved drama, loved to walk quietly under fire with his tricolor scarf, make big speeches, and one time at church he reportedly has the Te Deum replaced by La Marseillaise.

* When he was caught between insurgent slaves and royalists, chose to ally with the slaves - of course - and to entirely abolish slavery even if he had no legal rights to do it and he was risking his position and life.

* Gave citizenship to all the Black ex-slaves and organized only then elections he was supposed to have since months, resulting to the first Black representatives in France.

* And he was 30 at the time.

* Was tolerant enough about Voodoo to have absolutely no problems dining and negociating with ex-slave leaders carrying fetishes and a rooster under the arm. It was probably manipulation again, but still, it's cool.

* When word about abolition came in French, it was that abolishing slavery was a good idea, confirmed by the central power, but that his position and life were still at risk because of his friendship and political closeness to Girondin traitors. Felt very humiliated.

* Won his trial, but the fact he was the defendant is a scandal by itself.

* Came back to Saint-Domingue after, and, with the other Commissioners, began to totally ignore the new censitary census system and letting the black ex-slaves vote.

* Was sent back to France by Toussaint Louverture, who accused him of asking him to conspire to make Haïti independant. I really don't know if it's true.

* I don't know much about his personal life, except that he had a mixed-race mistress that he married later (but I don't know when he met her)

You know, now that you ask, I have this big “But I don’t know anything!” feeling again.

I’m a huge fangirl of Sonthonax, but he’s more a big name in the Haïtian Revolution than a small one in the French Revolution? Anyway, I can only approve of “I have a slave rebellion and a royalist rebellion against me, fuck, I will abolish slavery (without any legal right to do so), ally with ex-slaves, and march against royalists.” (Also, a few years later: “oh, you mean it was censitary suffrage with the new constitution, we didn’t really notice”).

As I mentioned, I love scientists and I can squee forever about science during the French Revolution. Like politics, it was an awesome mix of long-term decisions for posterity of science (metric system yay. I fangirl about Delambre and Méchain measuring their meridian while the world was going full revolutionary around them, for example) and very urgent and improvised things (a crash course about changing 20%-tin bronze of bells into 10%-tin bronze of cannons, with bonus of how to use saltpeter from old houses walls when the English do blocus on the one we usually use, by the better-known scientists in France - Monge was in it, and Lavoisier I think, and somme less-known but enthusiastic revolutionary scientists as Fourcroy) [Edit] And everything in between. I don’t know who ever said “Hey guys, you know, this new invention, the balloon, it’s cool, let’s make one for the revolution!” but I already like him.

But you know, I squee about what they did, but I can’t say I love them since I know next to nothing about their personalities and lives or even details of their political opinions. So I should research better?