History of Martinique - French Revolution

French Revolution

The French Revolution (1789) also had an impact on Trinidad when Martiniquan planters and their slaves emigrated there and started to grow sugar and cocoa. Médéric Louis Élie Moreau de Saint-Méry, the deputy to the National Constituent Assembly for Martinique opposed representaion for Free people of color. On 4 April 1792, the French Legislative Assembly extended citizenship to all men of color. Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau was sent to Martinique to apply this law. The Constituent Assembly of Martinique agreed to promulgate this law. However they refused to allow Rochambeau to disembark with his troops. In 1793 there was a small, unsuccessful slave rebellion in Saint Pierre. The French executed six of the ringleaders. On February 4, 1793, Jean Baptiste Dubuc signed an accord in Whitehall, London, putting Martinique under British jurisdiction until the French Monarchy could be re-established. In doing so he forestalled the spread of the French Revolution to Martinique by giving the English an excuse to intervene. Notably, the accord guaranteed the continuation of slavery.

In 1794 the French Convention abolished slavery. However, before this decree could get to Martinique and be implemented, the British attacked the island and captured it. A British force under Admiral Sir John Jervis and Lieutenant General Sir Charles Grey captured Fort Royal and Fort Saint Louis on March 22, and Fort Bourbon two days later. At that point all resistance ceased. On March 30, 1794, the British occupation reinstated the Old Regime, including the Monarchy's Supreme Council and the seneschal's courts of Trinité, Le Marin, and St Pierre. The Royalists regained possession of their properties and positions, slaves were returned to their masters, and emancipation was forbidden. The government also promulgated an ordinance banning all gatherings of blacks or meetings by slaves, and banned Carnival. However, the British did require an oath of allegiance to the King of England.