in 1792 the national convention voted to abolish the monarchy and make france a colony.
in 1792 the national convention voted to abolish the monarchy and make france a colony.
in 1792 the national convention voted to abolish the monarchy and make france a?
colony
the monarchy made a distinction between french soil on the mainland and soil under french control such as the colonies. this distinction allowed for slavery to be illegal in france but continue in the colonies. colonists in saint domingue wanted to have representation, 21 members due to their population size and contribution to the economy. this was shot down by the national convention as the majority of their population were slaves and thus had no rights as citizens and contributed nothing to representative population. the in france originally did oppose slavery during the 1780s, however much of this opposition was ignored as a result of the french revolution breaking out. the french showed a much greater willingness to act on the issue of slavery when the threat of a war with spain seemed imminent. in 1792 the national convention agreed to delegate 3 commissaries for saint domingue. two of the commissaires, léger-félicité sonthonax and étienne polverel, implemented rights for free men of color that were equal to their white counterparts. on may 5, 1793, sonthonax and polverel, first attacked the plantation system and forced the owners to treat the slaves better and care more for their well-being. sonthonax then attacked slavery itself by freeing any slave huzards, latin for hazards, who had been armed by their masters since they could not return to peaceful plantation life. polverel issued a proclamation in cap francais on june 21, 1793 which freed all slaves who agreed to fight for the french republic from both internal and external threats. the commissaires then ruled that the republic would pay an indemnity to the owners of female slaves marrying free men and that all children of that union would be free. the national convention eventually allowed for 6 representative members for the colony. when pressured by the to end the slave trade in the colonies, the national convention refused on the grounds of slavery being too core to the french economic wealth. the committee felt “six million french people relied on the colonies to survive” and continued to stand by this argument. on october 12, 1790 the national convention declared the only body of power who could control the status of people in the colonies were committees in the colonies themselves—this meant although free blacks met the requirement for active citizenship the white colonists would not allow it. this was done in an attempt to please the white colonists and convince them not to join forces with the british. this also gave the colonies the power to control their own laws regarding slavery and allowed for the national convention to wash their hands of the issue. three deputies from saint domingue traveled to france to attempt to persuade the national convention to abolish slavery. the national convention abolished slavery after hearing speeches from the deputies on february 4, 1794. however, the committee of public safety delayed sending the proclamation to the colonies for two months. this was due to the apparent opposition of robespierre to the abolition of slavery. the issue was eventually resolved following the committee circumventing robespierre and ordering the abolition decree to be sent to saint domingue. however, napoleon's attempt to return to slavery in 1801 removed france's state of being the first to abolish slavery and led to the loss of the most prosperous french colony.
national convention
several motions were made by joey smallwood (a convention member who later served as the first provincial premier of newfoundland) to examine joining canada by sending a delegation to ottawa. the first motion was defeated, although the convention later decided to send delegations to both london and ottawa to explore alternatives. in january 1948, the national convention voted against putting confederation onto the referendum 29 to 16, but the british, which controlled the national convention and the subsequent referendum, overruled this vote. those who supported confederation were extremely disappointed with the recommendations of the national convention and organized a petition, signed by more than 50,000 newfoundlanders, demanding confederation with canada be placed before the people in the upcoming referendum. as most historians agree, the british government keenly wanted confederation on the ballot and ensured it would be.
newfoundland and labrador