Europe dismissed slave rebellions as brutish, not freedom-seeking

Evidence

As Jean-Philippe Garran-Coulon, author of a long official report on the “troubles” of the colonies published in the late 1790s, argued, the slaves of Saint-Domingue (like those who followed Spartacus in Rome) had been moved to action not by the actions of instigators but rather by the “genius of liberty,” which had incited them to “break their chains.” If they had been encouraged by the talk of liberty in the colony, and by the “unthinking” statements of some whites, the slaves had no “instigator” other than “the love of liberty and hatred for their oppressors.” “Slaves are in a permanent state of war with their masters and the government that maintains slavery. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 358 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

The goal of the slave insurgents during this first phase of the Haitian Revolution was not to break away from France. Indeed, at the time it was slave owners, not slaves, who clamored most for autonomy and even for independence. And along the way the slave rebels became the allies of imperial power and helped preserve the colony against France’s enemies, gaining freedom and citizenship in the process. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 26 (#complicates, via linked claim)

The goal of the slave insurgents during this first phase of the Haitian Revolution was not to break away from France. Indeed, at the time it was slave owners, not slaves, who clamored most for autonomy and even for independence. And along the way the slave rebels became the allies of imperial power and helped preserve the colony against France’s enemies, gaining freedom and citizenship in the process. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 26 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even British-armed slave insurrection was answered as constitutional grievance, not separation — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 24; Slave rebellion, not moral reform, forced British emancipation — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2078; Without slave revolt, the French Revolution would not have abolished slavery (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Slaves revolted out of love of liberty, not external instigation. #contradicts (0.95) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 358
• Slave rebels sought freedom through alliance with France, not secession #complicates (0.85) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 26
• Initial slave insurgents sought freedom within the French empire, not independence #complicates (0.85) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 26
• Slave rebellion, not moral reform, forced British emancipation #complicates (0.82) — Cedric J. Robinson, Black Marxism_ The Making of the Black…, 2078
• Without slave revolt, the French Revolution would not have abolished slavery #complicates (0.80)