DBQ: Slavery during the Enlightenment and the French Revolution
Directions: The following question is based on the accompanying Documents 1-12. (Some of
the documents have been edited for the purpose of this exercise.)
This question is designed to test your ability to work with historical documents. As you analyze
each document, take into account its source and the point of view of the author. Write an
essay on the following topic that integrates your analysis of the documents; in no case should
documents simply be cited and explained in a "laundry list" fashion.
When grading this essay, I will not assume that you have any detailed knowledge of the
Enlightenment – I will, however, assume that you know about something about slavery in the
Americas. I am most interested in your ability to interpret the documents, based on the
information you have been given.

Make sure you base your argument on the documents below. Use ALL or ALL BUT
ONE of the documents (including the pictures/charts). However, you do not have to
analyze each document with the same level of detail. Don’t forget to GROUP them.
 Please keep in mind who the author of each document is, why he/she is writing, and when
the document was produced. For the non-literary sources, what information can you
deduce from the pictures that will help you answer the question?
 Make sure to discuss one additional type of source that would have been helpful to you in
answering this question. Don’t just list the type of source, but explain WHY it would be
helpful to you.
QUESTION: Analyze the views of those addressing the issue of slavery during the
Enlightenment and the French Revolution. In doing so, explain how the authors of these
documents thought the abolition of slavery would affect the existing economic, political and
social order. In what way does the French government’s response to the events of the Haitian
Revolution reflect or challenge those views?
Historical Background. During the Enlightenment (1750s-1770s), French intellectuals
addressed the institution of slavery. The issue remained important through the French
Revolution, when the French National Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man
and Citizen (published in August 1789), which begins: "All men are born free and remain free
and equal in rights." [HINT: Pay attention to the DATE of this document when answering
the question!]
The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen raised issues concerning the French colonies in
the West Indies, including Saint Domingue (now Haiti). French merchants supplied these
islands with slaves, and French planters used the slaves to maintain their sugar and coffee
plantations. The populations of these colonies included African slaves, French colonists, mulatto
(people of mixed white and black ancestry) landholders and freed blacks. Slaves, mulattos, and
freed Black people had no political rights.
Early in 1791, mulattos from Saint Domingue sent a delegation to the National Assembly in
Paris to secure the rights enumerated in the Declaration. They were refused. Once back in Saint
Domingue, the mulattos rebelled against the white planters, but the revolt was quickly and
brutally suppressed. The leaders were executed as a warning to future revolutionaries.
Late in 1791 the French National Assembly did decide to grant civil rights to all mulattos and
blacks born of free parents. [They did not abolish slavery at that time.] Whites in Saint
Domingue were enraged and civil war broke out. Complicating matters further, slaves in Saint
Domingue also rebelled that year, led by the brilliant slave general Toussaint L’Ouverture.
L’Ouverture declared independence from France and after many years of battle, the Republic of
Haiti (formerly Saint Domingue) was established in 1804.
The slave rebellion in Haiti scared white elites all over the Caribbean. France itself abolished
slavery in its colonies in 1794. However, that did not stop Napoleon Bonaparte from re-invading
Haiti and capturing L’Ouverture in 1802. He died in a Parisian prison.
THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY ATLANTIC CIRCUIT
DOCUMENTS
Document 1
-- Louis de Jaucourt, "The Slave," Encyclopedia, 1755
(The Encyclopedia was a famous Enlightenment text)
Everything concurs to let humans enjoy dignity, which is natural. Everything tells us that we can
not take away from a person that natural dignity which is liberty.
Document 2
-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The New Heloise, 1761
(Rousseau was one of the leading intellectual figures of the Enlightenment)
I have seen those vast unfortunate lands that seem only destined to be inhabited by slaves. I have
averted my eyes from that sordid sight with loathing, horror and pity; and seeing one fourth of
my fellow humans changed into beasts for the service of others, I have grieved to be a human.
Document 3
-- Denis Diderot, "Natural Liberty," Encyclopedia, 1765
(This excerpt is also taken from the Encyclopedia – see #1)
Why did the Christian powers not consider that their religion, independent of natural law, was
fundamentally opposed to Black slavery? The answer is that those nations needed slaves for
their colonies, their plantations, and their mines.
Document 4
-- Abbé Guillaume Raynal, Essay on the Administration of Saint Domingue, 1781
(Raynal was a French Enlightenment priest and historian who collaborated with Diderot (see #3) on a history of
the European colonies in the Americas)
White people are incapable of working in the field under the hot sun in Saint Dominque; thus to
make the best of this precious soil, it has been necessary to find a particular species of laborers.
Saint Domingue is a milder climate for the slaves than the hot climate from which they have
been transplanted.
Document 5
-- Count Mirabeau, Speech to the National Assembly, July 1789
(Mirabeau was a moderate reformer in the early French Revolutionary government who favored a the
establishment of a constitutional monarchy)
I demand to know how the twenty White people here from the colonies can be said to represent
the people of color from whom they have received no authority. I demand to know by what right
the 23,000 White voters have refused their fellow citizens the right to name representatives and
have arrogated to themselves the right to choose representatives for those whom they have
excluded.
Document 6
-- A delegate from Bordeaux (France), Speech to the National Assembly, March 1790
The abolition of slavery and the slave trade would mean the loss of our colonies; the loss of the
colonies would strike a mortal blow to commerce, and the ruin of commerce would result in
stagnation for the merchant marine, agriculture, and the arts. Five million French citizens exist
only by the trade they bring. The colonies bring in an annual income of more than 200 million
livres.
Document 7
-- A delegate of the Owners of Property in the French Colonies of America Residing in
Bordeaux, Speech to the National Assembly, date unknown (1790?)
End our fears by declaring that your proclamation on the Rights of Man does not extend to the
Black people and their descendants. We have not enslaved them, but we discovered them in the
hardest and cruelest slavery, and transplanted them to French colonies, under a kind of humane
government, where, indeed, they work, but they live without fear for tomorrow.
Document 8
-- Antoine Barnave, Report by the National Assembly's Committee on the Colonies, 1790
We have reached this level of prosperity thanks to our colonies. If someday they must gain
independence, we must make sure to postpone that day so that we will be able to lose them
without an economic shock and without a disturbance to our political existence.
Document 9
SLAVES DELIVERED BY FRENCH SHIPS
Document 10
-- Maximilien Robespierre, Speech to the National Assembly, May 1791
(Robespierre was one of the most radical leaders of the French Revolution)
I am here to defend the Declaration of the Rights of Man. Let the colonies perish if the
planters, with their threats, try to force us to legislate in their private interest! I declare in the
name of the Assembly, in the name of those members of the Assembly who do not want to
destroy the Constitution, I declare in the name of the entire nation which wishes to be free,
that we will not sacrifice to the colonial deputies. I say that any other course, whatever it
might be, is preferable.
Document 11
-- Henri Christophe, Manifesto, 1814
(Christophe, a former slave, fought with L’Ouverture in the Haitian Revolution; in this excerpt he recollects
events in Haiti following France’s capture of L’Ouverture)
At the same time, notice was given to arrest all suspected persons throughout the island. All
those who had shown brave and enlightened souls, when we claimed for ourselves the rights
of men, were the first to be seized . . . At first they [the French] desired to sell them into
strange colonies; but, as this plan, did not succeed, they resolved to transport them to France,
where overpowering labor, the galleys, chains, and prisons, were awaiting them.
Document 12
-- Nicolas Maurin, lithograph of Toussaint L’Ouverture, (1832)
(After the loss of Saint Dominque, the French press described L’Ouverture as "a villain . . . this serpent which
France has warmed in her bosom". Note the profile in this 1832 French portrait of Toussaint.)
Document Based Question (DBQ):
50 Minutes (10 minutes prep, 40 minutes writing)
In order to get 7 of the 9 Points (Core Points), your DBQ must include ALL of the following:
1. Thesis (1 pt) – Do NOT just restate the prompt. Must include:
a. Date/years/time period
b. Region (if applicable)
c. Groupings (at least 2, but 3 are better)
d. Your actual thesis/argument
2. Use all documents (1 pt) – Use all of the documents!!
3. Analyzes Point of View (1 pt) – Must analyze POV for at least 2-3 documents, more
if possible. Point of View statements should consider:
a. Who created the document
b. Region and Time period in which the document was created
c. Type of document
d. How the position of the creator of the document influences what the document
says (i.e.: Is the document biased or reliable?)
4. Additional Document Suggestion (1 pt): You must suggest at least one additional
document somewhere in your essay. If you do not do this, there is no way you will
get a score higher than 6 out of 9. Suggestions for recommending an additional
document:
a. Must provide a different point of view than any of the documents already
provided
b. Must provide new information that is not provided by any of the documents
provided for the DBQ
c. EXPLAIN why this is a necessary document to help you better answer the
question
5. Supports Thesis with Appropriate Evidence from all documents (2 points)
In order to get the 2 expanded core points, you must:
a. Have a clear/analytical Essay that fully explains your argument
b. Use documents persuasively as evidence
c. Analyze POV in all, or all but one, document
d. Analyzes the documents in additional ways – groupings, comparisons,
synthesis
e. Outside, relevant information
ALWAYS REMEMBER TO EXPLAIN WHY AND HOW!!