French Views Of Slavery

French Views of Slavery

The issue of slavery has been touched upon often in the course

of history. The institution of slavery was addressed by French

intellectuals during the Enlightenment. Later, during the French

Revolution, the National Assembly issued the Declaration of the Rights

of Man, which declared the equality of all men. Issues were raised

concerning the application of this statement to the French colonies in

the West Indies, which used slaves to work the land. As they had

different interests in mind, the philosophes, slave owners, and

political leaders took opposing views on the interpretation of

universal equality. Many of the philosophes, the leaders of the

Enlightenment, were against slavery. They held that all people had a

natural dignity that should be recognized. Voltaire, an 18th century

philosophe, pointed out that hundreds of thousands of slaves were

sacrificing their lives just so the Europeans could quell their new

taste for sugar, tea and cocoa. A similar view was taken by Rousseau,

who stated that he could not bear to watch his fellow human beings be

changed to beasts for the service of others. Religion entered into the

equation when Diderot, author of the Encyclopedia, brought up the fact

that the Christian religion was fundamentally opposed to Black slavery

but employed it anyway in order to work the plantations that financed

their countries. All in all, those influenced by the ideals of the

Enlightenmen...

French Views Of Slavery

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