Restoration of colonial slavery — 20 mai 1802

The law of 30 Floréal Year X maintained slavery in the colonies returned by the Treaty of Amiens and prepared its restoration in Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue, reversing the abolition of 1794. The attempt at reconquest triggered the Haitian war of independence, the arrest of Toussaint Louverture and the loss of France's richest colony. It is one of the most heavily criticised decisions of the consular regime.

Reversing the abolition of 1794

On 16 Pluviôse Year II, 4 February 1794, the Convention had abolished slavery in all the colonies. Application had remained uneven: enforced in Saint-Domingue and Guadeloupe, abolition never took effect in Martinique or Réunion, the first occupied by the British, the second in open resistance.

The Peace of Amiens returned to France the colonies she had lost. The law of 30 Floréal Year X, 20 May 1802, decided that slavery would be maintained where it still existed and left the government to rule on the other colonies: the slave trade and slavery were restored there in the following months.

Guadeloupe and Saint-Domingue

In Guadeloupe, General Richepanse's expedition met the resistance of the troops of colour. Louis Delgrès, an officer of the Republic, fell back on the heights of Matouba and blew himself up there with his last companions on 28 May 1802 rather than surrender.

In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's expedition, which had sailed with more than twenty thousand men, arrested Toussaint Louverture in June 1802 and deported him to France; he died at the Fort de Joux, in the Jura, in April 1803. War then resumed with Dessalines, and yellow fever finished off the French army.

Haiti and the long road to 1848

The independence of Haiti was proclaimed on 1 January 1804: the first republic born of a victorious slave revolt, and the loss of the richest colony in the Atlantic world. The failure led to the abandonment of the American project and, as early as 1803, to the sale of Louisiana.

In France, colonial slavery remained legal until the decree of 27 April 1848. It is the decision of the Consulate on which historians today are harshest, and the only one of the great measures of those years to have been formally repealed.