1787: When Louis XVI called for the convening of the Estates-General in 1787, the planters of Saint-Domingue took the lead in pressing the claims of the Cari…

1787: When Louis XVI called for the convening of the Estates-General in 1787, the planters of Saint-Domingue took the lead in pressing the claims of the Caribbean slavocracy. Influenced by the recent example of North American independence, they elected deputies to represent them even before their place in the new system was defined. These deputies and their agents coordinated intense lobbying efforts in Paris to protect the interests of French slaveholders. The planters aimed to take advantage of any administrative weakness to increase their own power over colonial affairs. This political mobilization marked the first major step in the planter class’s challenge to traditional metropolitan authority.