abolition of slavery

• One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French colonies
• The colonies in the Caribbean – Martinique, Guadeloupe and San Domingo – were important suppliers of commodities such as tobacco, indigo, sugar and coffee
• Reluctance of Europeans to work in distant lands led to a shortage of labor on plantations, met by a triangular slave trade between Europe, Africa, and the Americas
• French merchants sailed from Bordeaux or Nantes to the African coast to buy slaves from local chieftains
• Slaves were branded, shackled, and packed tightly into ships for a three-month voyage across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, where they were sold to plantation owners
• Exploitation of slave labor met the growing demand in European markets for sugar, coffee, and indigo
• Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes prospered economically due to the flourishing slave trade
• Throughout the 18th century, there was little criticism of slavery in France
• The National Assembly debated extending the rights of man to all French subjects, including those in the colonies, but did not pass any laws due to fear of opposition from businessmen reliant on the slave trade
• The Convention in 1794 legislated to free all slaves in French overseas possessions, but Napoleon reintroduced slavery ten years later
• Plantation owners interpreted their freedom as the right to enslave African Negroes for economic gain
• Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848