Description
Book SynopsisThe abolitions of slavery in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue in 1793 and in revolutionary France in 1794 were the first dramatic blows against an institution that had shaped the Atlantic world for three centuries and affected the lives of millions of people. Based on extensive archival research, You Are All Free provides the first complete account of the dramatic events that led to these epochal decrees, and also to the destruction of Cap FranÃais, the richest city in the French Caribbean, and to the first refugee crisis in the United States. Taking issue with earlier accounts that claim that Saint-Domingue's slaves freed themselves, or that French revolutionaries abolished slavery as part of a general campaign for universal human rights, the book shows that abolition was the result of complex and often paradoxical political struggles on both sides of the Atlantic that have frequently been misunderstood by earlier scholars.
Trade Review'This is an impeccably researched and narrated history of the Saint-Domingue Revolution, which pivots on the destruction of the city of Cap François on the journée of June 20, 1793. It compellingly takes issue with a number of leading historiographical perspectives and for that reason alone deserves attention.' Seymour Drescher, University of Pittsburgh
'The events of 1793 were a watershed moment in the history of slavery and democracy. Popkin's deeply researched and fascinating account of this transformative moment is a major contribution to the existing literature on the history of the Haitian Revolution and on emancipation in the Atlantic world.' Laurent M. Dubois, Duke University
'Grafting original research in the colonial archives onto an extensive background in French Revolution scholarship, Jeremy Popkin has quickly established himself as one of the leading analysts of the Haitian Revolution. You Are All Free serves up a vivid and finely detailed investigation of a key turning point in Atlantic world history.' David Geggus, University of Florida
'Brilliantly written and tightly argued, this book will compel readers to rethink the history of Haiti, the French Revolution, and the abolition of slavery.' Lynn Hunt, Eugen Weber Professor of Modern European History, University of California, Los Angeles
Table of ContentsIntroduction: the journée of 20 June 1793 in Cap Français and the abolition of slavery; 1. A colony in revolution; 2. Municipal revolution in a colonial city; 3. French Jacobins and Saint-Domingue colonists; 4. Creating revolutionary government in the tropics; 5. A model republican general; 6. The powderkeg explodes; 7. Freedom and fire; 8. The road to general emancipation; 9. Saint-Domingue in the United States; 10. The decree of 16 Pluviôse An II; Conclusion.
