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Discours sur l'abolition de l'esclavage, prononcé par Anaxagoras Chaumette, au nom de la Commune de Paris

Bibliothèque Nationale de France

Abolition Celebrations Slavery French Revolution Speech Commune Paris National Convention

This speech, delivered by Anaxagoras Chaumette at the official celebrations of the abolition of slavery held in Paris, was ordered to be printed and distributed by the revolutionary National Convention. Chaumette describes the abolition of slavery in 1794 as the restitution of justice and natural law, which had been inverted since antiquity by greed and tyranny. This great change is attributed to the French revolution, the national assembly and the Declaration of the Rights of Man: "the oracle of truth has spoken among the assembly of the wise, and SLAVERY IS NO MORE" (4) In his speech, Chaumette cites Rousseau and Montesquieu, as well as Falconbridge's description of a slave ship (20).

Added as an appendix: texts of speeches made in parliament in February 1794 by the three St. Domingue deputies (Mills, Dufay and Bellay) on the abolition of slavery, responses by the President and by Chaumette, and a description of the reaction of those in the parliament at the time (31-42). Another edition of the speech was also published: Discours prononcé par le citoyen Chaumette au nom de la commune de Paris, le décadi 30 pluviôse l'an II ... À la fête célébrée à Paris, en rejouissance de l'abolition de l'esclavage (Paris: 1793).