16 The French Revolution’s attempt to Abolish Slavery.
A story of forerunners, heralds and victims[1]
Mart-Jan de Jong
Montesquieu: scolding colonial slavery
In a world dominated by conservative religious views and authoritarian leaders, Enlightenment philosophers Baruch Spinoza, David Locke, and Pierre Bayle dared to present their pleas for individual freedom, tolerance, and independent science. Later Montesquieu, Rousseau, and Voltaire followed their path. Their progressive ideas were discussed in ever widening circles of intellectuals and politicians. Thus some of their ideas got embedded in the French declaration of Human Rights, the American Declaration of Independence, and the Polish-Lithuanian Constitution.
Baron de Montesquieu was born in 1689.[2] His cradle stood in Chateau de la Brede, in the Gironde area near Bordeaux. To date, one can still visit this castle and throw a glance at the spacious study in which he wrote his path breaking study: De l’Esprit des Lois. The Spirit of the Laws was published in 1748. The book promoted the idea of the Trias Politica: a strict separation of powers between law makers, civil servants and judges. Without such a balance of powers nations are doomed to fall into the hands of dictators.
Montesquieu was convinced that all new laws should fit the “spirit of the nation.” Later German philosopher Johann Gottfried von Herder coined the term Zeitgeist (Spirit of the Times). Nowadays social scientists agree that laws that don’t fit prevailing norms and values will be impossible to implement, control and maintain. Large swathes will not support them, hinder its implementation and defy them whenever they can. When societies change, several laws have to be abolished or adjusted.
Of the six philosophers mentioned here, only Montesquieu was a strong criticizer of slavery. He described slavery as:
…the establishment of a right which gives to one man such a power over another as renders him absolute master of his life and fortune. The state of slavery is in its own nature bad. It is neither useful to the master nor to the slave … the master, because by having an unlimited authority over his slaves … becomes fierce, nasty, severe, choleric, voluptuous, and cruel.[3]
He was convinced that all work could and should be done by free humans. He urged fellow philosophers and political activists to focus on social progress, on individual liberty and social equity.[4] He countered all arguments in defence of slavery, not shying away from irony and sarcasm, though the irony was lost on some of his readers.[5]
“Were I to vindicate our right to make slaves of the Negroes, these should be my arguments:
The Europeans, having extirpated the Americans, were obliged to make slaves of the Africans, for clearing such vast tracts of land. Sugar would be too dear if the plants which produce it were cultivated by any other than slaves.”[6]
Le Code Noir (The Code for Blacks)
The Spirit of The Laws was published in 1748. His views differed sharply from the content of the Code Noir, promulgated by King Louis XIV in 1685 and still valid in 1748. The Black Code decreed that all slaves must convert to Catholicism and that all new-born babies of enslaved women become slaves of the woman’s master.[7] Article XIII is, in view of the spirit of the times, also rather amazing. It assumes the possibility of a male slave marrying a free women:
… if a male slave has married a free woman, their children, either male or female, shall be free as is their mother … And if the father is free and the mother a slave, the children shall also be slaves.
The Code gave owners the right to punish their slaves as they thought fit, though it forbade torture and killing. We can be sure that several masters have disobeyed this rule. Blacks who violently attacked their master, his wife, his mistress or his children, were being sentenced to death. If a runaway slave got caught, his ears were being cut off. The second time, his hamstrings were cut. Runaways, caught after a third attempt, were hanged or shot dead. Helpers of fugitive slaves risked severe penalties too. For Montesquieu, such extreme punishments formed all the more reason to question slavery.
Nicolas de Condorcet (1743 – 1794): stark opponent of slavery
The next renowned French philosopher who passionately criticized slavery was Nicolas de Condorcet. He was born in 1743 in Picardy.[8] Nicolas went to a Jesuit primary school in Reims. Next he attended the College de Navarre in Paris. He showed a strong interest in literature and social affairs, and produced a notable treatise on Calculus. He joined the Royal Academy of Sciences, aged 26.[9]
Condorcet hated injustice, conservatism and authoritarianism. Time and again he wrote pamphlets in which he advocated equal rights for women, Jews and Protestants. There was a growing market for literature, science news and political pamphlets then. Also Bourgeois women had time to read and socialize, for they could afford servants, cooks and nannies. In 1781, Condorcet published a condemning discourse on the Ancient Regime, the Catholic Church and slavery.[10] To dodge persecution, he used a pseudonym, presenting himself as M. Schwarz, pastor of a rural village. He wrote that slave traders and owners bring shame upon Europe; that colonial slavery is hundred percent wrong and the biggest disgrace of the time. His friend Turgot, economist and minister of finance, shared the view that colonists robbed countless blacks from all their rights, while pretending to save their souls by compelling them to convert to Catholicism.[11]
Condorcet’s writings infuriated planters. Following Demosthenes, he said that it is the task of all politicians to be righteous – in the first, the second and the third place. He also argued that it was far better to abstain from sugar, than to eat sugar stained by the blood of slaves. He warned that if slavery would not be abolished, their descendants would hold them in contempt. How could any French person take pride in their civilization, rationality and humanity, while condoning colonial slavery?[12] He wanted to convince all people that robbing humans from their freedom, their options and their dreams, is the worst crime one can commit. It is far worse than thievery.[13] He also stressed that stealing material objects is a crime of the poor. The poor get punished severely. But the rich and powerful that rob humans from their freedom never get punished.
Condorcet, alias Pastor Schwarz, condemned the justification that imported and enslaved Africans were victims of tribal wars and that, for them, it was far better to be sold to a planter in the Americas, than to be killed in Africa. To Condorcet, nothing can justify slavery. Even if African chiefs believe to have the right to capture and sell fellow-Africans, this does not give Europeans the right to profit from this practice. Condorcet also debunked the myth that colonies couldn’t survive without slave labour. Some moralists think that it is justifiable to enslave people for the sake of one’s survival, but this argument does not apply here. The predicament of colonists is no matter of life and death, but of decreasing profits only. Enslavement, just for getting richer is immoral.
In the spring of 1789, shortly before the outbreak of the French Revolution, Condorcet was elected in the city council of Paris and the new Legislative Assembly. He presented a path-breaking plan for free public education and proposed several ideas for a Republican Constitution. Alas, this brilliant thinker and writer was a dull speaker. He failed to inspire his audience. Most of his proposals got rejected. Also Deputy Abbot Grégoire wanted a republic. He blasted the whole idea of a monarchy, stating that “Kings are in morality what monsters are in the world of nature.”[14]
King Louis XVI was not a monster. He was an intelligent, lethargic man but an indecisive ruler. Aged 19, he succeeded his father on the 10th of May 1774. One of his first political acts, was reversing his dad’s and Chancellor Maupeou’s attempt to reduce the powers of the new parliaments, introduced in 1771.[15] The young new king also considered the abolition of colonial slavery. Chronicler Abbé de Véri wrote King Louis XVI discussed the abolition slavery with Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, minister of Marine Turgot and colonies. This included issues of colonial slavery. Turgot strongly opposed the abominable practice of colonial slavery. Nine years earlier, Turgot had made these views public when he presented his text ”Ephéméride du Citoyen”.[16] For all kinds of reasons Turgot and the king found that slave owners ought to be compensated for the loss of their slaves, their property. Since France lacked sufficient financial resources to pay all slave-owners immediately, they proposed that the slaves would become free after ten more years of slave labour. For the first time, ending slavery was discussed at the highest governmental level. This proposal was pathbreaking, but no more than a preliminary step towards abolition. Yet, when slave traders and owners of slave ships heard of these plans they sent some lobbyist to Versailles to defend their interests and to ask the king to drop this plan; which he did.
The King’s foreign policy focussed on weakening Great Britain. He supported the American colonists in their campaign for independence and helped them with money and French troops. From 1778 to 1783, France and Britain fought over dominance in the English Channel, the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Caribbean. All these war efforts bankrupted France in a period that the nation was plagued by bad harvests and rising food prices. In 1787, this awkward economic and financial situation led the king to support the radical fiscal, economic, and administrative reforms proposed by the Controller-General of finance. In 1788, the interest on the national debt usurped more than half of the total state revenue. Hard measures had to be taken. However, the Assembly of Notables and the parliaments rejected these them. Things got worse, and a growing number of the populace began to blame the king. All these developments added fuel to a revolutionary mood that exploded on the 14th of July 1789. The new government robbed Louis XVI from his absolutist powers. He was made a constitutional monarch. Degraded, he considered his reduced powers as provisional and his splendid palace as a prison.
21 June 1791, King Louis XVI attempted to flee the country. His coach was stopped and he and his family were escorted back to Paris. It was rumoured that he had contacted fellow monarchs to come to his rescue. 10 August 1792, an armed mob invaded the Tuileries Palace. This was a pivotal event in the French Revolution. The Royal family fled. On the 13th of August 1792 the king was arrested and imprisoned. Six weeks later, the National Assembly proclaimed the First French Republic. King Louis XVI was robbed from his title and absolute power, and renamed Citizen Louis Capet. He was tried by the National Convention, found guilty of high treason, and condemned to death.[17] 21January 1793, Louis Capet was forced to climb the scaffold on the Place de la Revolution where a large audience had gathered. He remained dignified, kneeled and calmly put his head on the block. The guillotine fell and severed his head in a split second.
| The Guillotine[18] This fall-axe was a simple device that had been developed during the Regime of Terror. It was invented by Antoine Louis. He had been asked to create an instrument that would ease the work of the axe-man and make it less messy. The instrument got named after Joseph-Ignace Guillotine, a Freemason and physician. On 10 October 1789, monsieur Guillotine proposed to the National Assembly that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation by means of a simple mechanism. This would make executions more efficient, and more humane by reducing the experience of physical pain by 100 per cent. All victims died instantaneously, before they could feel anything. |
Understandably, fellow European Monarchs were horrified, protested and made some threats. The next month, revolutionary France declared war on European monarchies such as Spain and Britain. The execution of the king also led to a sharp divide, between republicans and royalists in overseas colonies. Many monarchist colonists fled to the British West Indies (primarily Jamaica). The number of white people on Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) shrank to less than 6,000.[19]
Soon the revolution degenerated into a regime of terror. Nicolas de Condorcet got accused of conspiracy because he had criticized parts of the newly installed constitution. He was convicted on 8July 1793. A few days later his name appeared on a list together with other convicted deputies. Condorcet quickly wrote an open letter and left his home in a hurry. Two friends found him a place to hide: the house of Madame de Vernet. This brave and generous widow, who had never met him before, sheltered and fed him during eight months.[20] In this difficult period, he wrote: The Progress of the Human Mind.[21] In the last week of March, fearing that the house of Madame de Vernet was watched, he fled again. After three days without food he entered a local inn and ordered an omelette. His dirty and wrinkled clothes still revealed that he was a gentleman, probably an aristocrat on the run. The mistrustful inn-keeper and commander of the local militia, asked him how many eggs he wanted for his omelette. Having no idea what was customary, the hungry Condorcet answered: “about twelve”. After this absurd response, he was interrogated further. He lied that he was a carpenter. When they frisked him they found a silver watch and a Latin book, showing that he was no simple craftsman. He was thrown into a damp and chilly prison. The next morning, 29 March 1794, he was found dead.[22]
In 1989, two hundred years after the revolution, France honoured Condorcet for his role in philosophy and politics. Symbolically his remains were interred in the Panthéon, the national mausoleum for the most distinguished people of France.[23]
Abolitionist Jean-Pierre Brissot and the Friends of the Blacks.
19 February 1788, 15 months before the outbreak of the French Revolution, Jean-Pierre Brissot, Étienne Clavière and Abbot Grégoirefounded Les Amis des Noirs (The Friends of the Blacks). This association aimed to end all slavery and to grant Blacks and Whites equal rights. The association was weakly organised, elitist and only held meetings in Paris. At its peak Les Amis des Noirs counted 141 members: 20 per cent nobility, 38 per cent professionals and 25 per cent civil servants.[24] Prominent members wrote pamphlets about the horrors of colonial slavery and approached politicians.[25]
The first secretary of Les Amis des Noirs was Jacques-Pierre Brissot. He was born in 1754 in Chartres. His mother already had given birth to twelve children before Jacques-Pierre made his first baby cry. She gave birth to three more children. Nine of her 16 children died of infant diseases, which showed that medica science did not exist. His father was an uneducated pastry maker. His mother could read and write, which was exceptional. She nudged her husband to put Jacques-Pierre and his elder brother under the care of their uncle Pierre Brissot, priest in a small village. There, Jacques-Pierre learned to love the beauty, peace and quiet of the countryside. These good days did not last long. At the age of seven he was placed in the house of a stingy tutor in Chartres where he had to cram Latin from to dawn to dusk on a half empty stomach. One year later,in 1762, Jacques-Pierre was sent to college in Chartres. One of his teachers noticed his voracious reading and offered him access to his personal library.[26] Jacques-Pierre fully agreed with Montesquieu’s stance on slavery.[27] Reading Rousseau’s Profession de foi de vicaire Savoyard lead to an irrevocable break with his religion and his family.[28]
In 1769, aged 15, Brissot became apprentice of prosecutor Louis Horeau. He got befriended with his son, also an eager student. From then on his intellectual interests gravitated towards philosophy, linguistics, and literature. Aged 20, he moved to Paris. There, he made a name as writer, journalist and pamphleteer, advocating equal rights for women and ethnic minorities and the abolition of slavery.[29] In 1774, Brissot got elected in the Parisian Parliament. He fiercely criticized autocratic Church leaders and government ministers.[30]
In 1777, he went to London to work for Le Courier de l’Europe – a lingering Anglo-French newspaper, but this periodical did not survive.[31] Fortunately, he inherited a lot of money and did not need a job. He could spend his time on writing about favourite topics. In 1781, he finished his book on criminal law.[32] In 1782, he married Félicité Dupont, governess of the Duke of Chartres. The couple moved to London, where he called himself Brissot de Warville.[33] Mrs. Brissot translated English texts. Brissot was shocked by the bruteness of British criminal law. In his enlightened view, the bulk of deviant behaviour is caused by social factors. He was convinced that social reforms and free education would be more effective than meting out ever harsher sanctions
In 1782, Brissot visited Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou, a retired planter’s son. His father was a French Huguenot, who had fled to Holland. Next he migrated to Suriname, a Dutch colony. There, his father bought his first plantation. He also became legal adviser of the Surinamese Court of Justice. Pierre-Alexandre DuPeyrou inherited his parent’s plantations, became very rich and bought an imposing residence in Neufchatel, Switzerland. Besides discussing the work of Rousseau, Brissot and DuPeyrou often discussed slavery. Rousseau had studied the slavery in Ancient Rome and Athens and denounced Aristotle’s view that humans are born as slaves or masters. For Rousseau the true nature of men was being free. Slavery is an unnatural and illegal state of affairs.[34]
In 1787, Jacques-Pierre Brissot was handed a sealed warrant signed by King Louis XVI, authorizing his imprisonment or exile for criticizing the government’s handling of state debts. Immediately he sailed to England. In London, Brissot got acquainted with some Quackers who were setting up a committee to end the international slave trade. He got inspired by the ideas and actions of abolitionists such as Thomas Clarkson. In February 1788, after his return to France, he and his friend Clavière, founded the ani-slavery Les Amis des Noirs (Society of the Friends of the Blacks). In July 1789 he became an ardent supporter of the French Revolution and a member of new Legislative Assembly.
Brissot was a great admirer of the American Revolution. In 1788, he had boarded a ship heading for the United States. There, he studied the words and deeds of renowned American abolitionists and their adversaries.[35] In 1789, back in France, Brissot wrote and published a pamphlet, demanding to end slavery. He found that true champions of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen should come to the conclusion that Blacks should have the same “sacred rights” as French whites. Brissot became Deputy and a fervent advocate of ending slavery. But he and others worried about the financial consequences for France and the colonial economies.
In his pamphlet, Brissot compared the condition of enlisted soldiers with that of enslaved people. During the time of their enlistment soldiers are neither master of their time or actions. They are obliged to obey the orders of their superioris blindly. During wars they are subjugated to fatigue, to danger, and to the risk of being killed. In his pamphlet Brissot proposed that all former slaves regain their freedom after a certain period, like enlisted soldiers. He proposed a maximum period of ten years. Then, they should receive a sum of money sufficient to pay their return-ticket to Africa, to their country of origin.[36]
The Club Massiac or the Foes of the Blacks
The revolutionaries had promised Freedom, Equality, and Brotherhood. Alas, the new leaders refused to apply these objectives to enslaved Africans in French colonies. Many colonists feared that freeing them might lead to chaos, and put colonial economies at risk. This would bring great harm to the French economy and the coffers of the state. The Friends of the Blacks did not share these fears. They kept demanding freedom and equality for all.[37] Thomas Clarkson had advised Brissot to focus on ending the slave trade first. But even this feasible goal was hard to achieve, because France had a fleet of 92 slave ships. The profit per slave averaged 200 Francs and the yearly sale of 30,000 Negroes generated millions. Also colonial products yielded healthy profits. Hence, the rich and powerful did whatever they could do to prolong this trade.
On 15 July 1789, just one day after about thousand revolutionaries had stormed the Bastilles to seize gunpowder and medieval armoury, a group of rich absentee Parisian planters met in Hotel Massiac to discuss actions that could stop revolutionary measures that would endanger their interests in Saint-Domingue and other colonies.[38] The Club Massiac became a tough adversary of Les Amis des Noirs. Though, later, a few of them changed their views and became abolitionists. Louis-Pierre Dufay was one of them.
Louis-Pierre Dufay was born in Paris in 1752. His mother died in 1758 and his father died in 1770. Louis-Pierre, still an adolescent, wasted the modest heritage and got plagued by debts. He moved to Saint-Domingue to escape his creditors. He also changed his name in Dufay de la Tour and joined the French army. In the fall of 1779, allied French and American forces tried to free Savannah (Georgia) from British control, but failed.[39] Dufay returned to Saint-Domingue, and left the army.
29 May 1780, he married Catharine Thérèse Jolly, a rich widow. She owned a pottery and a sugar-reed plantation with 141 slaves. This marriage catapulted him into the elite of Saint-Domingue. He got elected as Deputy of Saint Domingue. In 1785 he went back to France. In 1789, he became a staunch believer of “Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood.” He returned to Haiti/Saint-Domingue in 1791. There he became Inspector of the border between the French and Spanish parts of Haiti. 22 September 1793, he was elected Deputy of the National Convention. Back in Paris he joined the revolutionary faction of the Jacobins, next he shifted to the Brissotins, who were less radical. He supported their plan to abolish slavery. The principle of Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood should include all subjects of France in overseas colonies.[40]
Brissot: From hero to victim of the revolution
After the French Revolution had erupted, new political structures were put in place. Brissot became a member of the Legislative Assembly (Later: The National Convention) and founded a new and influential news-paper Le Patriote Français (The French Patriot). Herein he published his revolutionary ideas. Not all revolutionaries shared his views. By 1791, he had separated himself from the core of revanchist and bloodthirsty revolutionaries, the Jacobins. He became leader of a moderate faction called Brissotins (Later: Girondins). Brissot and his followers protested against the speedy sentencing and merciless killing of thousands of men and women, labelled as traitors and hastily sentenced without applying proper legal procedures. In their eyes, Robespierre’s Reign of Terror was corrupting the French revolution. Of course, this difference of opinion caused a lot of tensions.
Brissot retreated to a small peaceful location outside Paris, to write a new book. In “Nouveau Voyage” he presented the United States of America as a good example of how to minimize the pains of a great revolution and to preserve the gains. This book did not bring peace between the two factions. In 1792, Brissot voted against the immediate execution of Louis XVI. Robespierre accused him of being a “Royalist” and taking part in conspicuous dinners. End October 1793, he was wheeled to the Place de la Revolution, where the guillotine was awaiting him. He and 21 other “enemies of the revolution” were publicly decapitated.[41] His work was continued by fellow Friends of the Blacks such as Étienne Clavière, Abbot Henri Grégoire, and Haitian planters Julien Raimond and Vincent Ogé.
Abbé Henri Grégoire and Julien Raimond: fighting against slavery
What do we know about the life and views of Abbé Henri Grégoire? His mother gave birth to son Henri on 4December 1750. Her husband was a craftsman with an insecure income. Young Henri chose a career as a priest, a career that always would provide a solid income. He was ordained in Metz, in 1775. In 1782, he became abbot of Emberménil, in North-East France. There, far away from Paris, he might have been lost for history forever. However, in 1788 he published an essay on equal rights for Jews. This audacious essay attracted a lot of publicity.[42] The clergy of Nancy elected him as their deputy to the Estates General, which was re-installed by King Louis XVI.
Mid-July 1789, while the Bastille was under seize, Deputy Grégoire presided the session of the Estates General. It was a decisive session and lasted four days.[43] One of their first revolutionary deeds was curbing the power of the Church. The E.G. introduced a new Civil Constitution for the Clergy. Abbot Grégoire was the first priest who took the oath. Next, he was elected bishop, without involvement of the pope.
In the autumn of 1789, Deputy Grégoire met indigo planter Julien Raimond during his appearance before the National Assembly’s Credentials Committee. He had been invited to discuss his request to become a colonial deputy for Saint-Domingue (Haiti). His petition failed, but Abbot Grégoire had gotten inspired by the words of this wealthy mixed-race planter who advocated to end the discrimination of free people of mixed-race. A few months, Abbot Grégoire, who never had shown much interest in colonial issues, published a pamphlet attacking colonial racism, laden with examples from Raimond.[44]
Abbé Grégoire became France’s most important abolitionist. He recommended that the National Assembly should have at least two black representatives from overseas colonies, elected by people of colour. His opponents hissed him down each time he discussed this topic, showing zero respect for his prominent status. Yet, Grégoire kept warning his fellow deputies that without granting equal rights to Blacks, slave rebellions would re-emerge, most likely at a much larger scale.
December 1789, after the publication of the Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Julien Raimond, and other people of colour presented an earnest request to apply the Declaration of Rights to all citizens of colour in the French colonies.[45] One of them was Vincent Ogé (ca 1755-1791). In the “cahier de doléances” (book of grievances) they demanded representation of free people of colour in government, the justice system and the military. They blamed the French National Assembly and the Colonial Assemblies for failing to represent free people of colour.[46] The petition was rejected. At first, nothing changed. But three months later, on 28 March 1790, the National Assembly of Paris ratified a decree which granted that also free people of colour could become elected in local Colonial Assemblies.
15 May 1791, still inspired by Raimond, Deputy Grégoire tabled a motion to grant civil rights to free male blacks and mulattoes who owned land and paid taxes.[47] The Constituent Assembly supported this motion. It was the first victory for the Friends of the Blacks, marking the first baby step towards the abolition of slavery in French colonies. Alas, these still all-white Colonial Assemblies did not consent. More adversity had to be overcome, because, also the National Assembly refused to abolish slavery on the grounds that local circumstances and colonial agriculture required exceptions to the general principles of the French Revolution. They quoted Montesquieu who had denounced slavery, but also had written that national laws had to fit geographical and climatic circumstances. Montesquieu and many other Europeans believed that Europeans did not have the physical strength and endurance to do field work under circumstances of tropical heat. They believed that Africans, being accustomed to high temperatures, could cope better with these challenging work conditions.[48] From a purely biological perspective this might be a valid argument, but this does not legitimize the enslavement of Africans. The National Assembly concluded that colonial slavery violated essential rights of citizens, but the Assembly lacked the power to maintain equal rights in all its overseas colonies.
In August 1791, after this disappointing news had reached Haiti, blacks and mulattoes started a bloody insurgency to put an end to their troubles. For many planters this slave revolt was a reason to oppose emancipation, but not for Julien Raimond. In 1793, he demanded abolition for all the enslaved people of Haiti. As a consequence he was convicted of causing social discord and incarcerated for fourteen months.[49]
Deputy Abbot Grégoire became president of the National Convention in 1791. As president he proudly wore his Episcopal attire. One year later, when fanatic revolutionaries had become even more influential, he refused to give up his religion and his office. He kept wearing Episcopal dress in public, defying political attacks, negative opinions of the press and protesters with street placards. Surprisingly, he survived Robespierre’s Reign of Terror. He also defied the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had seized power mid-November 1799 and aborted the French Revolution. Abbé Grégoire died peacefully on the 28th of May 1831. One of Grégoire’s great achievements was his book on the literature of Blacks. He stressed the humanity, equality, and culture of Africans. It was published in English in 1810, titled An Enquiry Concerning the Intellectual and Moral Faculties, and Literature of the Negroes. It became a touchstone for nineteenth century abolitionists in England and the USA.[50]
Étienne Clavière, financial specialist and friend of the Blacks
Clavière, a financial specialist from Geneva, hated violent uprisings. Revolutions seldom realize their idealistic goals, make many victims and risk to be hijacked by populists and tyrants. Clavière favoured gradual social change, granting people time to adapt. Yet, he became an influential participant of the French revolution and Minister of Finance of the New Republic.
Étienne Clavière was born 29 January 1735, in Geneve, Switzerland. His mother was an austere and devout Moravian Protestant. She believed that generating wealth served God, when done in a moral, honest and transparent way. His father, a French Huguenot, had settled in Geneva. He earned a decent income as a cloth-merchant. Son Étienne Clavière made a fortune on the stock market, but claimed that he always maintained the strict moral code of the Moravian Brethren. He hated callous capitalism and corrupted politicians and bureaucrats. What he hated most was colonial capitalism.
In 1772, angry mobs thronged the streets of Geneva, demanding an immediate removal of corrupt magistrates. Clavière, in order to prevent total chaos, took charge of this rebellious mob. When a French army invaded Geneva, he fled to London. A few years later he migrated to France. In Paris, he quickly regained his wealth, using two befriended hack-writers to spread negative information about supposedly fraudulent companies. He bought shares at ridiculously low prices, making huge profits after positive new info was spread. Apparently he had binned his “Moravian principles”[51]
In Paris, in1789, Clavière covertly worked for the Mirabeau-atelier, a lobby-group of anti-aristocratic thinkers and writers. He prepared speeches and position papers and provided Mirabeau with financial advice. He also published some pamphlets under his own name on public finance. Count Mirabeau had founded “The Society of 1789”, a moderate political association. Its goal was to support the principles of the new French constitution, to secure a constitutional monarchy, and to counter radical republicanism. Nicolas de Condorcet worked in close cooperation with Mirabeau.[52] This think tank played a significant role in drafting the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.[53]
In London, Étienne Clavière had met, befriended, and supported Brissot. He Minister of Finance for the Girondist government from 24 March 1792 till 12 June 1792. At the end of May 1793 the insurrection of the Commune of Paris led to the fall of the Brissotins/Girondins. Many Girondin politicians were being arrested and convicted. Also Clavière got arrested, but for some reason he was not put on trial, but remained in prison. He took his life on 8 December 1793, the day before he had to appear before the Tribunal of the Revolution.
Marquis de Condorcet: from philosopher to republican politician
In 1774, Condorcet was appointed Inspector General of the Paris mint. From then on he sowed a great interest in political affairs. He began to advocate human rights, including the rights of women and Blacks. In 1777 he became Permanent Secretary of the Académie Française. In 1789, he advocated women’s suffrage for the new Republican government. In 1791 he was elected as Paris representative in the Legislative Assembly and became its secretary.
He presented a path-breaking plan for free public education and proposed several ideas for a Republican Constitution.[54] Alas, this brilliant thinker was a dull speaker. He failed to inspire his audience. Most of his proposals got rejected. Regarding the ejection of the monarchy he got support from Deputy Grégoire. Louis XVI helped to speed up his downfall. The king was a weak, lethargic man, with little political insight. In June 1791, he attempted to flee to Austria. His coach was stopped and the king and the queen were escorted back to Paris. Rumours accused King Louis of having contacted fellow monarchs to come to his rescue. Louis XVI was arrested during the Insurrection of 10 August 1792. The First French Republic was proclaimed six weeks later, 21 September 1792. That same day, Deputy Grégoire fiercely attacked the monarchy, stating that “Kings are in morality what monsters are in the world of nature.”[55] King Louis XVI was robbed from his title, renamed Citizen Louis Capet, tried by the National Convention, found guilty of high treason, and condemned to death.[56]
The 21st of January 1793, citizen Louis Capet, was forced to climb the scaffold on the Place de la Revolution. He remained dignified, kneeled and calmly put his head under the guillotine. A large audience witnessed how the it severed his head in a split second, killing him before he could feel any pain.
Understandably, horrified fellow European Monarchs protested. The following months, The Republic of France declared war on European monarchies such as Spain and Britain. The execution of the king also led to a sharp divide, between republicans and royalists in overseas colonies. Many French colonists fled to the British West Indies (primarily Jamaica). The white population of Haiti shrank to less than 6,000.[57]
During the Regime of Terror, also Condorcet got accused of conspiracy after criticizing parts of the newly installed constitution. He was convicted on the 8th of July 1793. A few days later his name appeared on a list together with Brissot and a other convicted deputies. Condorcet quickly published an open letter, justifying his flight from “tyranny,” and left his home. Two of his best friends found him a place to hide: the house of Madame de Vernet, a widow he had never met before. This brave and generous woman sheltered and provided for him during the eight months.[58] In this period, and under far from perfect circumstances, he hastily wrote another book: The Progress of the Human Mind.[59] In the last week of March, fearing that the house of Madame de Vernet was watched, he decided to flee. After three days without food he entered a local inn and ordered an omelette. Unfortunately, his dirty and wrinkled clothes still revealed that he must have been a gentleman, probably an aristocrat on the run. The mistrustful inn-keeper and commander of the local militia asked him how many eggs he wanted for his omelette. Having no idea what was customary, the hungry Condorcet answered: “about twelve”. After this absurd response, he was interrogated further. Condorcet lied that he was a carpenter. When they frisked him they found a silver watch and a Latin book, revealing that he was no simple craftsman at all. Without further ado he was thrown into a damp and chilly prison cell. The next morning, 29 March 1794, he was found dead. Was he poisoned or had he poisoned himself?[60] Once more the revolution had driven one of its founding fathers to an early death. In 1989, two hundred years after the revolution, Condorcet was symbolically interred in the Panthéon for his central role in the Enlightenment.[61]
Temporary retreat of Les Amis des Noirs.
On February 4, 1794, seven weeks before the death of Condorcet, the French National Convention decreed that slavery is illegal in all the Colonies. All men, without distinction of colour are French citizens, and enjoy all rights assured by the constitution. Alas, this equal rights situation was short lived. General Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in 1799 and made himself absolute ruler. In 1802, he reversed the abolition of colonial slavery, making France the only country in the world that reintroduced colonial slavery after having it outlawed. This unique decision of Napoleon occurred because Haiti/Saint Domingue had started a successful campaign to become independent of France.
The Friends of the Blacks maintained close links with British Abolitionists. After France had declared war Spain and Britain in 1794, the leadership thought it better to dismantle the organization. Any link with a British organization could be framed as an act of treason and lead to a death sentence. The scrupulous agents of Regime of Terror already had incarcerated thousands of innocent people who they had redefined as “enemies of the revolution.” Lawyer Maximilien Robespierre (1758-1794), member of the Constituent Assembly, turned the democratic revolution into a relentless tyranny. The same man that once had quitted his position as a judge because he opposed capital punishment, had become so obsessed by his vision of an ideal republic, that he did not show any concern for the human costs of installing it.[62] As soon as he became a member of the powerful committee of Public Safety, he led it as a relentless dictator. Daily, he signed hundreds of arrest against anyone, left, right and centre, who opposed his political ideas. His reign of terror lasted no more than one year. Yet historians have estimated that about 40,000 “enemies of the revolution” have been executed during this short period. His regime ended in style. This vindictive former judge became the victim of a coup d’état on 27 July 1794. The next day, 28 July, this former judge was sentenced to death without formal trial and executed. After his head was chopped off, a large group of delighted spectators cheered for more than fifteen minutes.
Colonist Louis Pierre Dufay, deputy of Saint Domingue, had addressed the National Convention on 6 February 1794. Dufay had become rich as a slave owning sugar producer. As such he was pro-slavery. Later he changed his views 180 degrees and joined the anti-slavery society: The Friends of the Blacks. On the 6th of February 1794, he felt obliged to enlighten his large audience about the dreadful plight of the enslaved blacks. His speech made a great impression. The next speaker was Deputy Georges Danton, another important revolutionary. Danton was a tall man and a great speaker. With his clear and thundering voice, he ended his speech with:
“Representatives of the people of France, until now, egoistically, we have decreed liberty to ourselves only. But today, I demand that we declare to the world the emancipation of all slaves.” [63]
After this statement all deputies rose like one person, raised their arms to heaven as if they were testifying to God. All citizens present cried out in jubilee. The joyous sound was heard outside the assembly hall. It was as if, with one deep sigh, the whole Assembly discharged itself from a great guilt that weighted heavily on their conscious. At that very moment several Black residents of Paris entered the hall and tearfully embraced their saviours.[64] On that unforgettable day, almost four years after the adoption of the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizens, the revolutionary National Convention affirmed the abolition of Black slavery. This situation did not last long.
In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power as First Consul of the Republic. By then the policy to abolish slavery had not been fully implemented yet. After another slave revolt on Haiti/Saint Domingo Napoleon argued that France should renew its commitment to the emancipation of enslaved blacks. He feared that they might join the British. He wanted to keep these blacks attached to revolutionary France, to the glorious objective of liberty, equality and brotherhood. He imagined that emancipated blacks gladly would exchange plantation work for enlisting in the French army to fight the British.[65] For Napoleon, 100 per cent a military man, this would be the best thinkable side-effect of abolition. But his commitment to abolition was challenged by the successful military campaigns of General Toussaint Louverture, an experienced and exceptionally talented high military officer. Time and again he defeated Napoleon’s troops on Haiti. In 1802, since the Blacks had not done what he had expected, Napoleon decreed that slavery had to be restored. More on the story of this successful Haitian revolution and the road to independence in the following chapter. Also, in another chapter I will present the second and definitive attempt of France to abolish slavery.
[1] Chapter 16 of my book project From Ancient Slavery to Abolition.
(Draft: 25/9 – Words: 6857)
[2] Full Name: Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu
[3] Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (l’Esprit des Lois), Book XV, Chapter 1.
[4] Idem, pp 106
[5] Rebecca Clark: Montesquieu on the History and Geography of Political Liberty: Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2012. Posted on eScholarship@BC);
Schaub, Diana. “Montesquieu on Slavery” Perspectives on Political Science 34, no. 2 (2005), 70-78.
[6] Montesquieu: Book XV, Chapter 5.
[7] Article XII: If the father is owned by another master, the child will become slave of the mother’s master.
[8] Full Name: Marie Jean Antoine Nicolas de Caritat, Marquis de Condorcet.
[9] Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet ; French philosopher and humanist. Brittanica.com; Marquis de Condorcet; Wikipedia.com
[10] M. Schwartz: Réflexions sur l´esclavage des nègres. 1781. Note that he chose Schwartz, the German word for black, as his pseudonym.
[11] Elisabeth Badinter & Robert Badinter: Markies de Condorcet. Een intellectueel in de politiek. Amsterdam Van Oorschot, 1993. pp. 128-129 [Original: Un intellectuel en politique, 1990]
[12] Idem
[13] One century earlier Bernardus Smijtegelt already stated that enslavement equals theft. This Dutch parson referred to Exodus 21: 16: Anyone who kidnaps someone is to be put to death, whether the victim has been sold or is still in the kidnapper’s possession. Bernardus Smijtegelt: Des Christens eenige troost in leven en sterven (Middelburg, 1747)
[14] Idem: Wikipedia refers to Fisher, Herbert A.L. (1910) The Republican Tradition in Europe. The Harvard University Lowell Lectures
[15] Louis XIV; King of France. Britannica. Britannica.com. retrieved: 17 September 2026.
[16] Louis XIV voulait abolir l’esclavage en 1774. Une-autre-histoire.org. Retrieved: 17 September 2026.
[17] Louis XIV: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 18-4-2026.
[18] Guillotine: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 27 August 2026.
[19] Léger-Félicité Sonthonax: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 9 May 2022
[20] The last days of Condorcet. Rodama: a blog of the 18th century and Revolutionary France. 20 March 2021. Retrieved: 21 Oct. 2023
[21] Esquisse d’un tableau historique des progress de l’esprit humain
[22] Badinter & Badinter: o. c. 472-473
[23] The coffin was empty because his remains had been lost in the nineteenth century. Marquis de Condorcet, Wikipedia. Retrieved: 22-10-2023.
[24] C. Perroud: La Société Française des Amis des Noirs. La Révolution Française, 69 (1916) p. 144.
[25] Quinney, V.: “The Problem of Civil Rights for Free Men of Color in the Early French Revolution”, p. 555.
[26] Jacques Pierre Brissot: fr.wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 20 November 2024
[27] Leonore Loft: Quakers, Brissot and Eighteenth-century Abolitionists. SAS; Open Access Journals, journals.sas.ac.uk/article/view/4874; pp 277-278
[28] Translation: The profession of faith of a Savoyard vicar
[29] Idem
[30] Idem
[31] Leonore Loft: o. c.
[32] Bibliothèque philosophique de législateur. The content of these books show a strong influence of Rousseau. Wikipedia refers to: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). “Brissot, Jacques Pierre“. Encyclopedia Britannica: Vol. 4 (11th Ed). Cambridge University Press: p. 575
[33] Warville refers to Quarryville, the birth place of his mother.
[34] Jean Jacques Rousseau: The Social Contract, Book I, chapter IV: Project Gutenberg Free eBooks.
[35] J.-P. Brissot de Warville, New Travels in the United States of America (1788), 1791, excerpts National Humanities Center.
[36] Jacques Pierre Brissot: The Abolition of Negro Slavery or Means for Ameliorating Their Lot. In: The French Revolution ND Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History, translated, edited, and with an introduction by Lynn Hunt (Boston/New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1996) pp 101-103.
[37] Badinter, o. c., p. 222. Condorcet: Au corps électoral contre l’esclavage des Noirs.
[38] Massiac club. Wikipedia.org; Retrieved: 12 June 2023. Storming of the Bastille: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 26 August 2026
[39] Siege of Savannah (1779). American History Central. Americanhistorycenral.com. Retrieved: 16 September 2026.
[40] Louis-Pierre Dufay: Wikipédia; l’encyclopédie libre; Retrieved: 16 September 2026.
[41] Jacques Pierre Brissot: Wikipedia.org. retrieved: 26 August 2026.
[42] Henri Grégoire: Essai sur la régénération physique et morale des Juifs. Academy of Metz. 1788
[43] Henri Grégoire: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 2 October 2024
[44] John D Garrigus: Opportunist or Patriot? Julien Raimond (1744-1801) and the Haitian Revolution. Slavery and Abolition: Vol. 28, No. 1. April 2007, pp 1-21
[45] “Supplique et pétition des citoyens de couleur des isles et colonies françoises.”
[46] Julien Raimond: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 26 August 2026.
[47] Aged 25 or older.
[48] Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws, Book VII, Chapter 3.
[49] Henri Grégoire: wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 5 May 2022
[50] Henri Gregoire: On the Cultural Achievements of Negroes. Translators: Thomas Cassirer and Jean-Francois Briere. University of Massachusetts Press, 1966
[51] Carolina Tsakanias. Julien Raimond (1744-1801); Black Past, March 24, 2018. Blackpast.org. Retrieved: 31 August 2026
[52] Étienne Clavière; Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 28 August 2026
[53] Mirabeau Atelier; Wikipedia.org. retrieved: 18 September 2026.
[54] Marquis de Condorcet: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 28 Septeber 2026.
[55] Idem: Wikipedia refers to Fisher, Herbert A.L. (1910) The Republican Tradition in Europe. The Harvard University Lowell Lectures
[56] Louis XIV: Wikipedia.org. Retrieved: 18-4-2026.
[57] Léger-Félicité Sonthonax: en.wikipedia.org. Retrieved : 9 May 2022
[58] The last days of Condorcet; Rodama: a blog of the 18th century and Revolutionary France. 20 March 2021. Retrieved: 21 Oct. 2023
[59] Esquisse d’un tableau historique des progrès de l’esprit humain
[60] Badinter & Badinter: o. c. 472-473
[61] The coffin was empty because his remains had been lost in the nineteenth century. Marquis de Condorcet, Wikipedia. Retrieved: 22-10-2023.
[62] Maximilien Robespierre: en.wikipedia.org. Wikipedia refers to Popkin, Jeremy D. (1 July 2016) A Short History of the French Revolution. Routledge: p. 71
[63] Dufay et Danton, National Assembly: 4 February1794,
[64] Emilio Castelar: Abolición de la esclavitud – Biblioteca Virtual Universal
[65] Shannon Selin: Imaging Napoleon’s view of Slavery and Slavery in New Orleans. shannonselin.com/2014/06/slavery-new-orleans-napoleons-view-thereof/ Retrieved: 5 May 2022
Philippe R. Girard, The Slaves who Defeated Napoleon: Toussaint Louverture and the Haitian War (Tuscaloosa, 2011), pp. 39-40.