Sonthonax proclaims emancipation in northern Saint-Domingue

A gathering remembered as Bois Caïman is associated with the coordination of the revolt that began days later. The event’s details come largely through later and colonial accounts, but the uprising...

A broad uprising began in northern Saint-Domingue and developed into the Haitian Revolution. Enslaved people organized military resistance, destroyed plantation infrastructure, and demanded freedom in...

The Danish Crown prohibited its subjects from participating in the Atlantic trade after a transition period, making 1803 the effective date. The delay allowed merchants to accelerate trafficking...

France enacted a law granting equal political rights to free men of color in its colonies. It addressed neither the legal status of enslaved people nor the fundamental power of plantation owners. In...

The first federal Fugitive Slave Act created procedures to seize and return people accused of escaping slavery. It denied alleged fugitives a jury trial and punished those who aided them. Black...

The National Convention abolished slavery in French colonies, extending the emancipation first proclaimed in parts of Saint-Domingue. The decree was inseparable from the Haitian Revolution and the...

The constitution reorganized the French Republic after the fall of the Jacobin government. Its universal political language sat alongside unresolved questions about colonial citizenship and the status...

A planned revolt involving enslaved and free Black people was exposed after severe weather delayed the gathering. Authorities executed Gabriel and others and tightened controls. The plan drew on...

The constitution affirmed the end of slavery and made Louverture governor for life, while keeping the colony formally within the French empire. It reflected the political authority won by formerly...

Napoleon’s law maintained slavery in colonies returned to France under the Treaty of Amiens and reinstated the slave trade where it had been abolished. It sought to restore plantation wealth and...