History

The abolition of slavery in the French colonies was one of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime. Throughout the French Revolution, the Jacobin leader Robespierre opposed slavery in France and its territories. The slaves in St. Domingue led a revolution against slavery and colonial rule. They liberated themselves and formed an army to oppose re - enslavement. The radical 1793 constitution supported by Robespierre ratified by a national referendum, granted universal suffrage to French men and explicitly condemned slavery. But this was not implemented. In 1794, January, delegations representing both former slaveholders and former slaves arrived in France to petition for slavery or its abolition. The National Convention passed a decree banning slavery on February 4. Robespierre praised the French as the first to "summon all men to equality and liberty, and their full rights as citizens".