Dakar and Paris agreed African elites should stay more African than French.

Evidence

In the end, the new status never became law, in part because Carde refused to approve the project. Carde’s point was a simple one; West Africa did not need an official status for “deserving Africans,” because such a status already existed de facto, if not de jure, thanks to the initiatives he had already taken and would continue to take regarding the evolues. As Carde explained it to the minister, he did not want to be hampered by the creation of a new legal category to which specific rights were automatically attached. In addition, in the most politically advanced parts of the federation, the subjects would see this category as a new means of avoiding the extension of citizenship, and it would generate more discontent than it alleviated. Although Dakar and Paris diverged slightly on the method, both revealed their commitment to creating-alongside a renewed aristocracy-a new elite who would remain more African than French. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 710

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the distinction between the ‘indigenes d’elite’ legal proposal and the de facto ‘evolue’ elite Carde preferred.
• XREF: Connects to the goal of understanding how French republicanism was forced into West Africa as a graduated, qualified belonging rather than equal citizenship.