Saint-Domingue, a French colony in what is now Haiti, elected several deputies to the various French legislatures in the period between the calling of the Estates General of 1789 and Napoleon's Coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Peaking at 17 members in 1797, the deputation, with the exception of those elected in 1789, was diverse in race and origin, including former slaves, white officials from Metropolitan France, and even former slaveowners, one of whom had previously owned a fellow deputy.
Due to the circumstances of their elections, all validated deputies elected after 1793 came from the northern department and were republican in orientation, with several explicitly proclaiming their commitment to the union of pro-Republican parties formed in the aftermath of the Coup of 18 Fructidor. In 1799, as the union fell apart, the majority of the remaining deputation moved towards neo-Jacobinism, becoming members of the Manège Club.
The first elections were unauthorized, held in secret by white planters. The next, and first official, election occurred in 1793 in the northern department, following emancipation of the enslaved people there. Additional deputies were elected in 1796 and 1797, though they initially were unable to take their seats until the Coup of 18 Fructidor, due to the right-wing majority of the legislature. Deputies from the southern and western departments also attempted to gain admission, having been elected to take advantage of the conservative swing, but were rejected after the coup. At this peak, the deputation was composed of six blacks, seven whites, and four mixed. Elections followed in 1798 and 1799, but the deputies elected during these cycles were either never seated or never had their elections officially validated.
Divisions within the deputation, torn between the egalitarian and assimilationist colonial policy of the French Directory and the resolutely authoritarian and personal orientation of the autonomist government of Toussaint Louverture, only served to weaken it. By 1799, with the Coup of 18 Brumaire, colonial representation no longer had any reason to exist, as the overseas territories were pushed to the margins of the Republic under the Constitution of the Year VIII. In the immediate aftermath of the coup, the entire remaining deputation was excluded from the legislature. From then on, the offensive of the settlers' lobby, which had rallied in support of the coup, was given free rein.
The non-white deputies experienced both social and physical decline following the coup, with several being deported, arrested, and/or dying in custody. Others died in Paris or were killed in Haiti. Some of the white deputies met similar ends, with ÃÂtienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux expelled from Guadeloupe and taken prisoner by the British, killed on the orders of Haitian Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Sonthonax falling into disgrace and indigence.
The first elections in the colony were unauthorized, having been held in secret by white planters frustrated by the lack of local colonial assemblies, seeking representation in the Estates General and aiming to protect their racial hierarchy from the abolitionist Society of the Friends of the Blacks and free people of color, including those who owned slaves themselves. The deputies elected, 17 in total, were provisionally admitted to the Third Estate, having been rejected by the Second Estate. Nine of the deputies took the Tennis Court Oath and were absorbed "provisionally" into the National Assembly. To avoid a discussion of the morality of slavery, the assembly compromised by granting the colony only six seats, two from each province, significantly lower than the 20 had sought for the delegation.
The elected deputies would go on to join forces with the white colonists in Paris to form the Massiac Club, an organization of planters. Working in collaboration with the deputies, the club was able to convince Louis XVI to approve the creation of three colonial assemblies with policing and legislative powers.
The first authorised election occurred in the northern department in 1793, the only one under the Constitution of the Year I. In an effort to gain support from black insurgents, Commissioner Léger-Félicité Sonthonax had issued his "Decree of General Liberty" on 29 August, emancipating the slaves in the northern province with the rights of French citizens and implementing the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen across the colony. The electors chose six deputies and three substitutes by individual ballot, requiring an absolute majority. The first elected was Jean-Baptiste Belley, a former black slave who had bought his freedom decades earlier. By the end of the session, including substitutes, three whites, three men of color, and three blacks had been elected.
Those elected were subjected to verbal abuse, threats, robbery, and even physical assaults from deported white refugee and migrant counterrevolutionaries. In Paris, they encountered opposition from Pierre-François Page and Augustin-Jean Brulley, a delegation from the recently dissolved white colonial assembly in Le Cap. This delegation had come to lobby for the interests of white plantation owners and to discredit the commissioners. They managed to persuade the Committee of General Security to arrest the deputies, before being forced to release them by the Committee of Public Safety. On 3 February 1794, three of them had made it to the National Convention, where they were quickly admitted as representatives for the northern province of the colony. Their arrival had been anticipated, with many deputies long hoping to have men of color among their ranks. The three were welcomed with repeated applause and a "fraternal embrace" from the president as they made their way to sit with the Montagnards. The following day, Dufaÿ delivered a lengthy speech recounting recent events in the colony. Afterwards, the Convention passed a decree emancipating slaves across all French territories. The three deputies were then embraced by their colleagues amid applause and cries of "Vive la République! Vive la Convention! Vive la Montagne!" By summer 1794, two more deputies, one of them being Boisson, had made it to France.
The election of additional deputies, along with the reelection of those already in Paris, occurred in northern Saint-Domingue in 1796, with more elected in 1797. Also in 1796, according to 1800s Haitian historian Thomas Madiou, elections were held in the southern and western departments by Rigaud and fellow southern general Louis-Jacques Beauvais. Rigaud sought to undermine interim governor Laveaux and Sonthonax. He planned to send his aide-de-camp, Bonnet, to accompany the deputies to Paris, where he would accuse Sonthonax of attempting to separate the colony from France. Rigaud aimed to exploit the conservative shift in Paris and appeared to advocate for a return to slavery in order to restore the island's former profitability. Most of the deputies elected were unable to depart in September as scheduled, while those who did were captured by the British.
The elected deputies from the north were initially unable to take their seats as the Clichy Club, led by its main colonial spokesperson, planter Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc, convinced the legislature to annul both the 1796 and 1797 elections. According to them, the elections had not been conducted in accordance with the constitution, but under prior electoral regulations. They accused Laveaux, Sonthonax, and Louverture of having rigged the vote, claiming it was dictated by military despotism. Furthermore, they criticized emancipation, alleging it had led to, and was used to justify, unprecedented violence against whites in the colony, rendering it unprofitable.
The offensive by the Clichyens was cut short with the Coup of 18 Fructidor. On the day of the coup, a commission met, which validated the deputation a week later. The deputation of Saint-Domingue was therefore composed of 17 people, six blacks, seven whites, and four mixed. Due to the circumstances of their admittance, the representatives were attached to the "fructidorien current", with several of them explicitly proclaiming their commitment to the union of pro-Republican parties against the supporters of the royalist restoration, among whom were the most determined of their opponents. Several of them also aligned with the neo-Jacobin left.
Elected representatives from the South, Pinchinat and Rey Delmas, also took steps to obtain their approval. A new commission met in January 1798 to examine their case, concluding on 27 April 1798, that the elections in the Southern and Western departments should be annulled.
Elections were held again in the north in 1798, and in both the north and south in 1799, but the deputies elected during these cycles were either never seated or never had their elections officially validated.
By 1799, with the Coup of 18 Brumaire, colonial representation no longer had any reason to exist, as the overseas territories were pushed to the margins of the Republic under the Constitution of the Year VIII. In the immediate aftermath of the coup, the entire remaining deputation was excluded from the legislature. From then on, the offensive of the settlers' lobby, which had rallied in support of the coup, was given free rein.
The non-white deputies experienced both social and physical decline following the coup, with several being deported, arrested, and/or dying in custody. Others died in Paris or were killed in Haiti. Some of the white deputies met similar ends, with ÃÂtienne Maynaud de Bizefranc de Laveaux expelled from Guadeloupe and taken prisoner by the British, killed on the orders of Haitian Emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines, and Sonthonax falling into disgrace and indigence.
When the first non-white deputies from the colony were admitted by the National Covention in 1794, they weren't the "first" colored deputies in the legislature as , a mixed pro-slavery deputy from Martinique, had been sitting in the Convention since 1793. Unlike those elected in 1789, who acted merely as proxies of the colonial assemblies they sought to create, those elected afterwards were representatives of the nation as a whole, both the metropole and her colonies. They did not limit themselves to colonial matters, but took part in a number of commissions, reporting on various issues of interest to the republic as a whole.
Due to the circumstances of their admittance, the representatives would become attached to the "fructidorien current", with several of them explicitly proclaiming their commitment to the union of pro-Republican parties, formed in the aftermath of the Coup of 18 Fructidor, against the supporters of the royalist restoration, among whom were the most determined of their opponents. Several of them also aligned with the neo-Jacobin left. As the union fell apart in 1799, the majority of the remaining deputation would move towards neo-Jacobinism, becoming members of the Manège Club. Brothier and unconfirmed deputy Rallier were opposed to the neo-Jacobins.
As Toussaint Louverture consolidated power as governor of Saint-Domingue, members of the deputation, including some of its most prominent figures, grew increasingly hostile toward him, criticizing the neo-colonial regime he sought to establish. Among these critics was Jean-Baptiste Belley, who saw Toussaint's regime as counter-revolutionary. By 1799, the few deputies who continued to defend Toussaint, such as Laveaux and , were in the minority. These internal divisions only served to weaken the deputation, torn between the egalitarian and assimilationist colonial policy of the French Directory and the resolutely authoritarian and personal orientation of the autonomist government of Louverture.
The 1796 unconfirmed deputies, led by Pierre Pinchinat, were angered by the overrepresentation of the northern department, which had monopolized the entire delegation. Sending several pettitions to the Directory, Pinchinat argued that the situation constantly poured slander on the "brave citizens" of the southern department, whose election had fully complied with the provisions of the Constitution of the Year III and had taken place before the arrival of the commission, when "the greatest unity reigned among the citizens".
Deputies in order of election, if known.
The deputies elected, 17 in total, were provisionally admitted to the Third Estate, having been rejected by the Second Estate.
Nine of the 1789 deputies took the Tennis Court Oath and were absorbed "provisionally" into the National Assembly. To avoid a discussion of the morality of slavery, the assembly compromised by granting the colony only six seats, two from each province, significantly lower than the 20 had sought for the delegation. The National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 30 September 1791. Upon Maximilien de Robespierre's motion, it decreed that none of its members should be capable of sitting in the next legislature; this is known as the self-denying ordinance.
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