1793-08-29: (Sonthonax Abolishes Slavery in Saint-Domingue Without Authorization From Paris, a Desperate Gambit to Win Black Loyalty Against the British and …

1793-08-29: (Sonthonax Abolishes Slavery in Saint-Domingue Without Authorization From Paris, a Desperate Gambit to Win Black Loyalty Against the British and Spanish Invasion, the First Emancipation Decree in the Colony’s History): On August 29, 1793, the French military commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax abolished slavery in Saint-Domingue on his own authority, without approval from the government in Paris. It was a calculated gamble born of desperation: France was at war with Britain and Spain, the white planters had defected to the British side, and Black revolutionaries including Louverture had joined the Spanish forces invading from the east. Sonthonax understood that the only way to save France’s colony was to offer the enslaved population something worth fighting for. Freedom was that something. The decree was radical, unprecedented, and strategically brilliant. It would take until February 1794 for the French government to ratify the abolition across all French colonies, but Sonthonax acted first, in the field, under fire, making a promise that France would later attempt to break.