Table Of ContentA Co(cid:1)on(cid:2) of
Citizens
A Co(cid:1)on(cid:2)
of Citizens
revolution slave emancipation
&
in the french caribbean, 1787–1804
laurent dubois
PublishedfortheOmohundroInstituteofEarlyAmericanHistoryand
Culture,Williamsburg,Virginia,bytheUniversityofNorthCarolina
Press,ChapelHillandLondon
TheOmohundro ©2004
TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress
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LibraryofCongress
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Dubois,Laurent,1971–
WilliamandMary Acolonyofcitizens:revolutionandslave
emancipationintheFrenchCaribbean,
andtheColonial
1787–1804/LaurentDubois.
Williamsburg p.cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
Foundation.On isbn0-8078-2874-2(cloth:alk.paper)—
isbn0-8078-5536-7(pbk.:alk.paper)
November15,1996,
1.WestIndies,French—History. 2.Slaves—
theInstituteadopted Emancipation—WestIndies,French—History.
3.Slaveinsurrections—WestIndies,French—
thepresentnamein History. I.Title.
f2151.d83 2004
honorofabequest
326'.8'0972976–dc22 2003019519
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Omohundro,Jr. anddurabilityoftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelines
forBookLongevityoftheCouncilonLibraryResources.
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For Guadeloupe
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acknowledgments
This book was born of travels back and forth across the Atlantic, from
MichigantoAix-en-Provence,fromGuadeloupetoParis,travelsthrough
which I have accumulated unpayable debts and invaluable friendships.
ItbeganasadissertationattheUniversityofMichigan,whereIwassur-
roundedbynurturingteachers.Throughout,FernandoCoronilinspired
andpushedmewithhisintellectandpassionforthepossibilitiesofusing
knowledge for the present and the future. I thank him for his example
and friendship. Rebecca Scott’s contagious energy and intellectual ex-
ampleshapedthisproject,andsheconstantlycommunicatedtomeboth
the opportunities and responsibilities that come with historical work.
JuliusScott,whotravelsinthesamehistoricalwatersIdo,hasinspired
methroughhisabilitytobringtolifetheworldoftheCaribbeaninways
Icanonlyhopetoemulate.RuthBehar,DavidBien,FrederickCooper,
SimonGikandi,andAnnStolerallcontributedinimportantwaystothe
evolutionoftheproject.IoweagreatdealtomyfellowtravelersatMichi-
gan,whoheardmorethantheywantedtoaboutGuadeloupeaswegrew
intoanintellectualfamily.MarthaBaker,PaulEiss,MandanaLimbert,
Setrag Manoukian, and Steven Pierce read drafts of various chapters.
DavidPedersenalwaysgotmethinkingaboutmycategories.Andwith
AimsMcGuinnessIsharedthejoysofwritingaboutseeminglymarginal
places.
During my first year of research in Aix-en-Provence, conversations
withMarie-JoséeBussenius,PriskaDégras,EdrisMakward,andAdlai
Murdochgaveearlydirectiontomyresearch.ConversationswithAssia
Djebar, whose work of memory is a model for me, stirred my imagina-
tion. As I first stumbled into the archives, I had the remarkable luck of
finding Stewart King there. Stewart was working in the notarial regis-
ters of Saint-Domingue for his dissertation, now a book, and with star-
tlinggenerosityshowedmehismethods,includinghiswell-constructed
database, on which I modeled much of my research. It was also in Aix
that I met Gary Wilder, and our conversations over French cafeteria
foodinitiatedanenduringintellectualcamaraderie.Gary’shumorkeeps
me laughing even when he isn’t around, his work has influenced this
bookprofoundly,andthepromiseofcontinuingdiscussionswithhimhas
madetheworkofresearchandwritingworthwhile.
A fortuitous encounter at the Archives nationales in Paris led to a
fruitful dialogue with Patrick Weil, whose input has been fundamental
in the development of my ideas on citizenship and the meaning of Re-
publicanculture.Hiscenter(CEPIC)providedahomebaseinParis,and
hehelpedmebringtheeighteenthcenturyintodialoguewiththetwen-
tieth, both through the seminar he organized and by inviting me to be
partofagovernmentcommissiononimmigrationreforminthesummer
of 1997. Conversations with Erik Bleich and Daniel Cohen, fellow re-
searchersattheCEPICduring1996–1997,aswellaswithCarloCelius
andMyriamCottias,werealsovitalinthedevelopmentofideas.Patrick
furthermore opened doors that enabled me to publish a part of my dis-
sertationin1998underthetitleLesEsclavesdelaRépublique:L’Histoire
oubliéedelapremièreémancipation,1789–1794,withEditionsCalmann-
Lévy(Paris,1998).Myeditorthere,OlivierNora,wasgeneroustotake
ariskonthebook.ThereviewsofLesEsclavesdelaRépubliqueandthe
conversations I had with readers helped me to rethink and expand my
ideasherein.MichelGiraud’senthusiasmforthebookhonoredanden-
couraged me. And there was little more I could wish for once I learned
mybookwasbeingsoldatthesupermarketinBasse-Terre.
Formy1996–1997yearinParis,IthanktheFranco-AmericanCom-
mission for Educational Exchange, which oversaw the Fulbright grant
that allowed me to do my research. Further research in France and
Guadeloupe was funded by a grant from the Georges Lurcy Charitable
andEducationalTrust.Thebeginningsoftheprojectwerenurturedby
a Pre-Dissertation Fellowship from the Council for European Studies
atColumbiaUniversityandaHewlett-Rackhamdissertationgrantfrom
the University of Michigan. The staffs of the Archives nationales and
theBibliothèquenationaleinParis,theArchiveshistoriquesdel’armée
de terre in Vincennes, the Centre des archives d’outre-mer in Aix-en-
Provence, the Archives départementales de la Guyane, the William L.
Clements Library at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and the
LibraryofCongressprovidedinvaluableassistancethroughmyyearsof
research. And Laird Pruixsma did me an enormous service by creating
acomputerprogramthatconvertsRepublicandatestoGregorianones.
ForhisteachingsIthankErolJosué,whointroducedmetotheworld
ofVodouinParisandinsodoingchangedmyvisionofthepastandthe
present.IalsothankLionelSaintvalforhisfriendship.InGuadeloupe,
BrigitteandHuguesDelannaywereinfinitelyhospitable;theirvisionof
theirisland’shistoryshapedthisproject,andtheirfamilyintroducedme
viii Acknowledgments
to Voukoum. During trips to Guadeloupe and Paris, I was also lucky
enoughtocometoknowDanielMaximin,whosewriting,culturalwork,
and enthusiasm for bringing history alive inspired me throughout this
undertaking.IthankGhislaineBouchet,theDirectoroftheArchivesdé-
partementalesdelaGuadeloupe,forherhospitality,aswellasCarlomann
Bassette, Christian Froleau, Dimitri Garnier, and Sainte-Croix Lacour.
Fréderic Régent, who knows more than anyone about the archives and
the history of revolutionary Guadeloupe, generously shared portions of
his dissertation-in-progress with me. He is the only person with whom
I could hotly debate precisely which wigmaker from Basse-Terre had
signedacertainpetition.IamalsogratefultoFabienMarius-Hatchifor
sharinghisworkwithme.
MyparticipationintheAtlanticHistorySeminarattheCharlesWar-
ren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University in
thesummerof1997andcommentsbyDavidArmitage,BernardBailyn,
EligaGould,andmyfuturecolleagueSusanSleeper-Smithwereessen-
tialintheevolutionoftheproject.AyearattheW.E.B.DuBoisInsti-
tute for Afro-American Research at Harvard University in 1998–1999,
funded in part by a grant from the Ford Foundation, allowed me cru-
cialtimetoreshapemydissertationintoamanuscript.Duringthatyear,
I was grateful for the companionship of Mickaëlla Périna, whose work
on Martinique influenced my thinking on citizenship, as well as Fabien
Eboussi-Boulaga,PatriciaSullivan,andRichardTurits.
In 1999, some of my work on Hugues was published in the William
andMaryQuarterlyunderthetitle‘‘ThePriceofLiberty:VictorHugues
and the Administration of Freedom in Guadeloupe, 1794–1798’’ (3d
Ser., LVI [1999], 363–392). Three dauntingly expert reviewers gave
me excellent suggestions on the work, as did Philip Morgan, and the
experience was fundamental in refining my ideas on Hugues’s regime.
I was also lucky to get to know Suzanne Desan, who wrote me de-
tailed thoughts about my dissertation that pushed me to think more
carefully about gender and emancipation. The responses and insights
of Sue Peabody, whose work was an inspiration early on, have shaped
the present version of this work. The input of David Brion Davis, Sey-
mour Drescher, Malick Ghachem, David Geggus, John Garrigus, and
MarixaLassoalsoshapedtherevisionsofmymanuscript.AndatMichi-
ganStateIhavehadthepleasuretoworkwithwonderfulandsupportive
colleagues.FundingfromtheCenterforLatinAmericanandCaribbean
Studies helped me as I was revising the manuscript. Anna and Chris
Acknowledgments ix
