In this Book
- A Colony of Citizens: Revolution and Slave Emancipation in the French Caribbean, 1787-1804
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: The University of North Carolina Press
- Series: Published for the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia
summary
The idea of universal rights is often understood as the product of Europe, but as Laurent Dubois demonstrates, it was profoundly shaped by the struggle over slavery and citizenship in the French Caribbean. Dubois examines this Caribbean revolution by focusing on Guadeloupe, where, in the early 1790s, insurgents on the island fought for equality and freedom and formed alliances with besieged Republicans. In 1794, slavery was abolished throughout the French Empire, ushering in a new colonial order in which all people, regardless of race, were entitled to the same rights.
But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti.
The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
But French administrators on the island combined emancipation with new forms of coercion and racial exclusion, even as newly freed slaves struggled for a fuller freedom. In 1802, the experiment in emancipation was reversed and slavery was brutally reestablished, though rebels in Saint-Domingue avoided the same fate by defeating the French and creating an independent Haiti.
The political culture of republicanism, Dubois argues, was transformed through this transcultural and transatlantic struggle for liberty and citizenship. The slaves-turned-citizens of the French Caribbean expanded the political possibilities of the Enlightenment by giving new and radical content to the idea of universal rights.
Table of Contents
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- Acknowledgments
- pp. vii-x
- Maps and Illustrations
- p. xii
- Abbreviations
- p. xiii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-20
- PART I: PROPHECY, REVOLT, & EMANCIPATION, 1787–1794
- Chapter 2: A Social Cartography
- pp. 30-84
- Chapter 3: Prophetic Rumor
- pp. 85-123
- Chapter 4: The Insurgent Republic
- pp. 124-154
- Chapter 5: The Arrival of Emancipation
- pp. 155-168
- PART II: THE MEANING OF CITIZENSHIP, 1794–1798
- Chapter 6: Making Slaves Citizens
- pp. 171-188
- Chapter 7: Worthy of the Nation
- pp. 189-221
- Chapter 8: War and Emancipation
- pp. 222-248
- Chapter 9: The Mark of Freedom
- pp. 249-276
- Chapter 10: The Revolution’s Spiral
- pp. 277-307
- Chapter 11: The Promise of Revolution
- pp. 308-314
- PART III: THE BOUNDARIES OF THE REPUBLIC, 1798–1804
- Chapter 12: The Road to Matouba
- pp. 317-323
- Chapter 13: Defending the Republic
- pp. 324-348
- Chapter 14: The New Imperial Order
- pp. 349-373
- Chapter 15: ‘‘Vivre libre ou mourir!’’
- pp. 374-401
- Chapter 16: The Exiled Republic
- pp. 402-422
- Chronology
- pp. 439-442
- Glossary of French Terms
- pp. 443-444
Additional Information
ISBN
9781469601052
Related ISBN(s)
9780807828748, 9780807839027, 9780807855362
MARC Record
OCLC
966766584
Pages
472
Launched on MUSE
2017-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No