Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

It took almost a whole century for slavery to be abolished in Latin America: from the abolition decree of the French revolutionary commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax in Saint-Domingue in 1793 to the Golden Law signed by the Princess Regent Isabel in Brazil in 1888. Between these two years, revolutions, independences, counterrevolutions, and civil wars upset the region, often putting slavery and the fate of emancipated slaves in the forefront.The Haitian Revolution (1791-1804) left a long-lasting and contradictory impact on the process of abolition in the Americas. Through massive uprisings, free people of African descent and slaves in Saint-Domingue won two major victories from the French revolutionary legislature. In 1792, on the basis of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, all free men of color were granted full equality with whites. In 1793, Sonthonax signed a non-official decree abolishing slavery in Saint-Domingue. Then, in February 1794, the French National Convention voted for the complete abolition of slavery in all its American colonies and granted full French citizenship to all former slaves. These decisions, taken shortly after the execution of King Louis XVI, showed for the first time that massive rebellion by people of African descent could force a world power to abolish slavery and racial inequality. There followed then more stunning events: the rise of former ... log in or subscribe to read full text