- France is one of the only countries in Europe to have an abolitionist political club, with the creation in 1788 of the Society of Friends of Blacks. In the notebooks of grievances, we find traces of the intellectual work of this Society, since the question of the emancipation of slaves, if it finds itself drowned in the middle of other claims, is very present.
- The Mountain Convention, under the I re Republic, abolished slavery by the decree of February 4, 1794.
- In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte reconsidered this decision. France is the only colonial power to reconsider the freedom of slaves. Slaveholders used the violent image of the French Revolution at the time of the Terror to equate it with the decree of 1794, making it difficult to calmly debate the issue.
- An emancipation law was proposed by abolitionists under the July Monarchy, but it was postponed. It was in 1848, at the time of the “Spring of the Peoples” in France and the advent of the Second th Republic, that the issue of the abolition of slavery is back in force in the public debate.
April 27, 1848
Characters
Victor Schoelcher
Procedure
The provisional republican government, which replaces the July monarchy, implements social reforms, within the framework of extended political freedoms. He creates national workshops for the unemployed, abolishes the political death penalty, and establishes universal male suffrage.
Among these reforms, we find the desire to abolish slavery:an Abolition Commission was created on March 5, 1848. It was chaired by Victor Schœlcher, a republican opposed to slavery, whom he discovered during his travels in the colonies in the 1830s. He wrote several books on the issue, analysis but also political proposals in the context of abolition. He is Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies in the Provisional Government.
For the very first time, this commission does not include any planter delegates. Its main purpose was to set the terms of the decree that would set the slaves free. The work of consultation carried out, the commission returns the decrees on April 27 to the government. The text of the abolition is accompanied by other decrees concerning the social life of the colonies. All the members of the government did not sign these texts, but the decrees appeared all the same on May 3, 1848 in the Universal Monitor .
Consequences
- The abolition decree was to come into force two months after its publication:however, revolts broke out, particularly in Martinique, the slaves having learned of the new legislation from mainland France. An indemnity is then paid to the planters in compensation for the freedom of the slaves.
- The French government's rapid decision-making is hailed by English abolitionists. Revolts break out in Danish colonies in the Caribbean, with slaves demanding their release.