Pre-revolutionary elites already feared a slave insurrection could erupt at any moment.

Evidence

In 1785 the marquis de Rouvray noted that these men were vital allies in a slave colony that was like a “besieged city,” whose inhabitants were walking on “barrels of powder” that might explode at any time. — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 241

Categorization

• CANDY: Short vivid quote: a colonial regime describing itself as walking on barrels of gunpowder decades before the explosion.