santé mom September 1792 two men arrived from France they're here to address the question of Rights for the free people of color it is the second Commission the first group having carried a completely different message but this group makes their intentions clear when they land they're here to ensure the free people of color receive full rights as French law now requires they will radically integrate the assemblies and they've brought six thousand troops to make sure that everyone rebellious slaves and big whites alike stay in line to tamp down the murmurings amongst the big whites they
say their orders do not include the abolition of slavery they are here to save slavery they say not end it but end it is exactly what this second Commission will end up doing and there's 6,000 troops they'll not nearly be enough despite assurances the white population of Santa Mon feared the commissioners were secretly working toward emancipation and there was a reason for that both commissioners were known abolitionists and the big and small whites made the decision to refuse to work with the Commission comply with their loss or even help them fight the rebellion the free
people of color though were only too happy to show their loyalty to the Commission soon the free people of color and French troops were fighting side by side making great progress against both white separatists and black rebels which was good because roughly five minutes after the Commission got to the colony yellow fever turned their 6,000 reinforcements into 3,000 but this alliance only deepened suspicions that the commissioners meant to end slavery suspicions that boiled over when the Commission issued a decree that they were reinstituting the long ignored code noir a set of regulations governing the treatment
of the enslaved from providing proper food clothing and housing to opening channels the enslaved could use to report abuse this was the last straw for the big whites they had already been budding up to the new governor a pro-slavery plantation owner liked them and soon he was insulting the Commission and threatening to counteract their decrease so the commissioners deciding that this constituted rebellion marched into a cap and imprison to the governor except he escaped and all hell broke loose the governor rallied his troops and attack like app where the commissioners and soldiers were now based
besieging and taking the city but during the fight fires ignited the colonial port burning down most of the city's grand Paris style buildings operas and boulevards the commissioners themselves ended up outside of the city and needing reinforcements were still both Spain and Britain had declared war on France so the Spanish got busy sponsoring and fighting alongside rebels like Tucson Lu bhatia while word was a British force was already on the way the Commission needed troops fast so they did something unorthodox maybe out of desperation or maybe because they saw an opening for a move they
wanted to make anyway they put the word out that any formerly enslaved person who fought for them would gain their freedom and full French citizenship rebels thronged in from the countryside to join their forces and they pushed the big whites and their allied governor out of lockup over half of the colony's white population boarded boats and fled overnight but now agreeing to free a few people with conditions let the genie out of the bottle once and amongst formerly enslaved population heard that emancipation was in fact on the table rumors of abolition raced across the north
province and on August 29th 1793 the commissioners took the leap pressed by the rebels Spain and now Britain the colony slipping away they did the one thing that they believed could turn the tide a general emancipation all former slaves born in the colony along with their families would be freed yet while this news was greeted with enthusiasm in the rebel-held north province not all the rebels came to the Commission's aid Tucson Liu Bhatia and many other generals were skeptical of whether this promise of freedom would hold after all the commission was exceeding their authority indeed
they'd even gotten a recall order due to their actions and the last colonial governor who'd overstepped had been recalled to France and guillotined also this Republican French government had already become infamous for changing its mind because remember last episode when the free people of color had rights and then they didn't and then they did again yeah well the rebels remember that - not to mention previous trades of freedom for military service had also gone badly and lua cheia along with these other generals had a more consistent ally a rival power who owned the western half
of the island Spain in fact those Spanish troops had only crossed the border recently Spain had covertly supported the slave rebellion since its earliest days but now with open war declared Lubitsch's forces were receiving arms ammunition and even uniforms from the Spanish and that alliance with Spain did seem more suited to Lu bhatia after all Spain had not promised them liberation it offered to recognize that the enslaved had liberated themselves Spanish political policies - lined up with the rebels because most of the rebels were Royalists who due to incorrect rumors believed King Louie was Pro
emancipation they disliked revolutionary ideals and symbols mostly because their enemies these small whites and the free people of color had enthusiastically adopted them not to mention Republic in France was making moves on religion suppressing the Catholic Church and replacing it with their own secular variant and most of the rebels found that deeply offensive yeah that's a wild story actually and we'll get to it you know one day but they were also cracks forming in this Spanish alliance as well first of all the war in Europe had turned and Republic in France suddenly looked like it
might win second the big white suit evacuated to Barbados had convinced the British to invade under the specific promise of restoring slavery and racial apartheid wherever the Royal Navy landed ships and took ports they put everyone right back in bondage so technically this alliance with the Spanish put the rebels on the same side as the British aligned plantation owners and lua cheia knew this was not sustainable see he had advantages that other rebel generals did not Lew Bhatia was literate had briefly owned a farm with slaves and he had been in plantation management this meant
that not only could he keep up correspondence with allies but he had also long practiced navigating white society now sure the Spanish had other rebel allies but Libre Chia kept up a lively correspondence and actually not just with his allies but with his French enemies as well this would become a hallmark of Lubitsch's strategy a savvy politician he would always seek favor from all sides and his vision of the colony always consisted of integrating the island's black white and free people of colored population into a single society but he was not naive he knew that
the freedom the Spanish were promising was at odds with the revived slave system the British were offering the big whites and he saw Spain's commitment to racial equality wavering as both news and the rhetoric of abolition crept across Santa both his political ideas about general emancipation and his political calculus began to shift because the Revolution was beginning to craft its end goal a thing that had been nebulous and confused up to this point the complete abolition of slavery also the French were eager for Lu bhatia to defect despite having no military experience before the rebellion
he had blossomed into one of the most able commanders of the conflict when he captured European officers he treated them well and had them instruct his men he ensured they operated like a modern military but also kept one foot in the guerrilla tactics that had served the rebellion so well and he had the most important strategic position in the colony garrisoning a line of forts that separated the rebel-held north province from the french held south and west he had effectively split the French force the commissioners in the north and the three colored troops in the
south then something incredible happened in February of 1794 representatives of the colony spoke before the National Convention on the issue of slavery it was a tricolor Commission consisting of one of the big whites a free black Army officer and a free person of color they argued that emancipation was the only way to keep control of the vital economic engine of Santa ma not to mention it was also the purest expression of Republican principles they got more than they bargained for not only did the National Convention end slavery in Santa male ended slavery in all French
colonies moreover they declared that all men living in France and its possessions regardless of the color of their skin were full citizens and protected by the constitution upon hearing that the French had actually fulfilled their promise of emancipation bloobity ditched his Spanish allies and switched sides he now had the largest and most professional force in the colony allies that aligned with his political goals a strategic position to fight both the Spanish and British and the backing of a major power by 1795 Spain was knocked out of the war ceding their side of the island to
France British troops were dying in droves of yellow fever with 30,000 more on the way to hell and the war yet it would do no good the time of the European powers in Haiti was waning and the rebel generals would instead turn on each other for the war of muskets at uniforms was over and the war of knives had begun special thanks to our educational tier patrons Ahmed Zia Turk Joseph Blaine and Dominic Valenciana [Music]
