Emancipation’s survival was contested in Paris even after the decree passed

Evidence

These speeches were part of a larger battle over the consequences, and future, of emancipation that raged throughout 1795. While planters reworked their proslavery arguments in the new context, portraying the exslaves as lazy and barbarous, defenders of emancipation presented the exslaves as ideal Republicans, courageous soldiers, hard-working laborers, and loyal citizens. The two sides faced off in the lengthy trial that pitted Sonthonax and Polverel against a committee dominated by planters, who painstakingly attacked the actions of the commissioners during their stay in Saint-Domingue. As the trial wore on, Polverel fell ill and died. Sonthonax continued on alone, responding to his accusers and accusing them in turn. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 673

Categorization

• XREF: The French planters’ battle to re-frame ex-slaves after abolition parallels post-emancipation backlash narratives in other slave societies (e.g., US Reconstruction-era ‘lazy freedmen’ tropes).