First Abolition of Slavery by France
On 4 February 1794 (16 Pluviôse, Year II), the National Convention voted unanimously to abolish slavery in all French territories, declaring that all men, regardless of colour, were French citizens with full rights. The decree was the first national abolition of slavery in history. It was driven by several pressures: the ongoing Haitian Revolution in Saint-Domingue (which had begun in 1791 and threatened French colonial control), the presence of three colonial deputies — Dufay (white), Mills (mixed-race), and Belley (a formerly enslaved man) — who argued passionately for abolition, and the Revolutionary commitment to the universal rights proclaimed in 1789. The practical effect was limited: slavery in India and Réunion was not affected, and the Convention's reach to the colonies was tenuous. In Saint-Domingue, the decree brought formerly enslaved people under French command, including Toussaint Louverture, who had been fighting with the Spanish. Napoleon Bonaparte reversed the abolition in May 1802, reinstating slavery in the French Empire. In Saint-Domingue this sparked the final phase of the Haitian Revolution, which ended with Haitian independence in January 1804 — the world's first Black republic.
- Year: 1794 CE
- Category: Political
