US Fugitive Slave Act empowers federal capture of freedom seekers

The National Assembly extended political rights to some free men of color born of free parents in the French colonies. It did not free enslaved people and excluded most of the free population of...

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...

French commissioner Sonthonax proclaimed freedom for enslaved people in northern Saint-Domingue amid the revolution and a military crisis involving French, Spanish, and British forces. Enslaved...

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...