French conquest itself drove Africans into slavery while France posed as liberator.

Evidence

On the one hand, the 1896 discussion made clear that a majority of the French Chamber felt that the emancipation of slaves should be stated policy in France’s new colonies. On the other hand, the final resolution revealed that even as committed a Socialist as Jaures accepted that some transition to freedom was necessary, particularly from lineage slavery. … By constantly describing slavery as a barbaric African practice and France as a liberating power, Dakar effectively masked the Republic’s role in driving ever greater numbers of displaced Africans into involuntary servitude in the 188o’s and 189o’s. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 350

Categorization

• SEED: Potential article angle: how a liberating ideology’s material actions contradicted its own narrative — France’s conquest increased slave numbers precisely as it claimed to abolish slavery.
• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s goal of understanding the ramifications of forcing French republicanism onto West Africa — a structural hypocrisy within the civilizing mission itself.