The Society was created in Paris in 1788, and operated until 1793, during years of the French Revolution. It was led by Jacques Pierre Brissot, with advice from British Thomas Clarkson, who led the abolitionist movement in the Kingdom of Great Britain.
The economy of France was dependent upon revenues from the colonies, which were slave societies based largely on production of sugar from cane plantations. The French economy thrived due to the lucrative trade triangle. Demand for sugar was high in Europe. Conditions on the sugar plantations in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and Martinique, in the Caribbean, were so harsh that slave mortality was very high. This required steady importing of new slaves from Africa. In La Louisiane, in the southern United States, slavery was also the basis of the economy in the New Orleans and Mobile regions. Southern Louisiana had numerous sugar plantations.
Figures indicate that slave-trade activity alone during the years leading up to the French Revolution resulted in some profit percentages exceeding 100 percent. In 1784, for example, the outfitter Chaurands realized a profit of 110 percent through the use of a single ship,
Jacques Pierre Brissot organized the Société des amis des Noirs in February 1788. A follower of the Philosophes, Brissot's anti-slavery efforts were also due to his exposure to humanitarian activities on both sides of the Atlantic. In the United States, where he visited Philadelphia's constitutional convention following the American Revolution, he became absorbed by [Thomas Jefferson]'s humanitarian ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. In England, Thomas Clarkson invited Brissot to attend a meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. So enthused was Brissot that shortly thereafter he founded an abolitionist society in Paris. Its objectives were to suppress the slave trade and, at a later date, to attain equal rights for free persons of color. This was a class, generally in the French colonies, of persons of mixed French and African ancestry, generally born to French colonial fathers and mothers of African descent (some of whom were also of mixed-race.) The French-born or French Creoles extended them some rights, although not full equality to those of "pure" French descent.
The Amis advocated freedom in the French colonies, arguing that the ideas of the Revolution should extend to the colonies. The French concept of liberté, égalité, fraternité did not include the liberation of slaves, because the National Assembly argued that such abolition would be detrimental to the economy. The Amis des Noirs pushed for the abolition of slavery, although Clarkson recommended they reduce their demands to ending the Atlantic slave trade.
The Society also directly appealed to government individuals such as Antoine Barnave, a member of the Committee on Colonies, and Jacques Necker, France's Controller-General Of Finance. Although Necker acknowledged that slavery was inhumane, he would not sanction emancipation in French colonies unless the practice of slavery and the slave trade were halted simultaneously in every country. He believed that this was needed to maintain the existing economic balance among nations. In a 1789 letter the Society urged Necker to form a committee similar to the one in England, and expressed hopes that the actions of the English parliament might have a positive effect on the Estates-General. Other Society addresses denounced individuals in the colonies. One such incident occurred in 1791, when the Amis des Noirs responded to criticism written by pro-slaver Arthur Dillon, Député de la Martinique, and owner of a large plantation.
In 1789, the royal government had requested petitions of grievances from all parts of the country. During the election of representatives to the Estates-General, Condorcet asked for a demand for abolition of the slave trade to be included in these cahiers de doléances. Out of the 600 cahiers assembled, fewer than 50 called for an end to the slave trade and slavery.
Society member Abbé Grégoire recommended in the fall of 1789 that two deputies to the Assembly be chosen from the population of free persons of colour. This was accepted by the Committee on Verification of Credentials in the National Assembly. Gregoire's was unable to present his proposal to the National Assembly because every time he rose to speak, he was shouted down by the colonists (usually planters) in the Assembly.
Focusing on the rights of free men of colour, Grégoire and Alexandre Pétion (another member of the Society) warned the Assembly on 15 May 1791 that if these people were not given their rights, violence would ensue in the colonies. Because of the increasing conflict in the colonies, as well as the growing influence of free men of colour with some deputies, Barnave felt that the members of the Society could not be ignored: "We can't win against the influence of the Friends of the Blacks."
On May 15 the Assembly decreed that all men of colour would be granted equal rights if they were born of free parents. Further legislation passed on 4 April 1792 (with influence from La Société des Amis des Noirs), stated that every free man of colour now enjoyed equal rights.
Opposition from pro-slavery groups
The Committee on Colonies
The Committee on Colonies was formed in March 1790 to deal with escalating problems arising from slavery unrest in the colonies. Its resolution of the problem leaned heavily in favour of the colonists, and its membership generally had little sympathy for conditions of slaves. The members of the committee included colonial landowners (who were usually slaveholders), other slave owners, lawyers and merchants, and all were advocates of French commercial interests. The final report of the Committee did not alleviate any of the problems relating to slavery. It stressed that it did not wish to interfere in the commercial interests of the colonies: "The National Assembly declares that it had not intended to innovate in any branch of commerce direct or indirect of France with its colonies..."
A group of National Assembly deputies who were either colonists or slave trade merchants lobbied the French chambers of commerce and city governments to maintain the slave trade and slavery, proclaiming that economic disaster would result from its abolition. The deputies argued their point so effectively that members of La Société des Amis des Noirs feared abolition would cause chaos. One such pro-slavery group was composed of the lobbyists for the French chambers of commerce, who designated themselves as the "Deputies Extraordinary of Manufactures and Commerce."
Their main efforts focused on influencing the Committee on Agriculture and Commerce to maintain slavery and the slave trade. Since revenue from the colonies was collected mainly from the sale of slaves and crops, the Committee was investigating the economic ramifications should this source of income cease to exist. Historian Quinney wrote in 1970 that Barnave's non-committal report to the National Assembly resulted from he learning that the Committee on Agriculture and Commerce "had already decided to advise the National Assembly to retain the trade and slavery."
The Massiac Club
A pro-slavery organization called the Massiac Club, headquartered in Paris, was composed of colonial planters living in Paris and throughout France. The club had its main headquarters in Paris, with chapters located in the provinces. Realizing that success related to political influence, the club proceeded to systematically contact government officials.
The Massiac members opposed any type of abolition legislation, and communicated with each colonial deputy to ensure that pro-slavery interests were maintained. Mirabeau stated that when he attempted to sway the deputies in favour of abolition, every official he spoke to had already been approached by a member of the Massiac club. The Massiac group published and distributed literature, responding in toto to practically every idea the Amis des Noirs had put forward.
In a leaflet distributed to members of the Comité de Commerce de l'Assemblée Nationale, the Massiac accused the Amis des Noirs of being involved in subversive activity. The Massiac Club published a handbill that said the abolitionists were not truly humanitarian philanthropists, but rather an organization attempting to subvert social order. They claimed the Amis des Noirs should be viewed as counter-revolutionaries, and pro-British. The pro-slavers also distributed leaflets specifically denouncing individuals: Brissot, Grégoire and Pétion. They supported the slave trade in debates held in district assemblies within Paris, and attempted to influence voting in these districts when the question of the slave trade was introduced.
A "société de pensée" (philosophical society)?
"Mortals are equal, it is not birth, but virtue alone that makes the difference".
Elitist membership policies
Analysis of the membership list of the Society reveals a predominance of elite individuals. Although they possessed great influence, they had most of their power in Paris. There was a lack of popular participation, which reflected the structure of government and society. The founding members of the Society included such notables as Brissot, Condorcet, Saint-Lambert, Lafayette, La Rochefoucauld, and Clavière. The Society began with a handful of abolitionists, increased to ninety-five by 1789, and would swell to a maximum of 141 associates in later years.
Of the 141 members, twenty-five percent were government employees, twenty-nine percent were nobility, and thirty-eight were professionals; the total of elitist membership made up 92% of all members. Cohen observed: "It [the Society]... concentrated on having important, well-connected members, rather than large members ... The members [were] drawn from the French social elite ..."
The Society restricted members to those who could pay dues and be recommended by four other men. There were different fee scales: two Louis per year for those who lived in Paris, and 24 livres per year for those living in the provinces. The membership practices of La Société des Amis des Noirs both hampered its attempt at increasing in size, and affected its ability to become a credible and effective entity.
Relationship to English abolitionists
Perroud states that Brissot's trip to London in November 1787 prompted him to form an identical chapter in France. The English society had been formed only a few months earlier, in May 1787. A group of abolitionist friends in Paris discussed how the London society encouraged others to join its cause, and noted that France and England had a commonality with respect to abolishing slavery.
The Society translated and published English anti-slavery literature. Brissot, shortly after founding the Society, wrote to Quaker James Philips, an original member of the English abolitionist society. Brissot stated his intention for the Amis des Noirs to translate and publish English anti-slavery works for distribution to the French public.
Many French citizens believed that the Society was an offshoot of the English abolitionist society, and some suspected the English were paying them to promote their cause. This resulted in a loss of credibility in the eyes of the French populace. Britain and France had historically been antagonistic towards each other for decades. Britain had defeated France in the Seven Years War and taken over much of its territory in North America. Influences from England were seen as "dealing with the enemy." This view extended to encompass the activities of the Society. The perception that it was a vehicle for English infiltration into French matters overshadowed its intentions.
The Society was rendered inactive by the outbreak of the Haitian Revolution, begun as a slave rebellion, as well as by the major crisis of the First French Republic (with the start of the French Revolutionary Wars).
The Haitian Revolution was a successful anti-slavery and anti-colonial insurrection by self-liberated slaves against French colonial rule in Saint-Domingue, now the sovereign nation of Haiti. It began on 22 August 1791 at 22:00, and ended in 1804 with the former colony's independence. It involved blacks, mulattoes, French, Spanish, and British participants—with the ex-slave Toussaint L'Ouverture emerging as Haiti's most charismatic hero. It was the only slave uprising that led to the founding of a state which was both free from slavery, and ruled by non-whites and former captives. It is now widely seen as a defining moment in the history of racism in the Atlantic World.
The society remained active until 1793, publishing its calls in papers such as Patriote français, L'Analyse des papiers anglais, Le Courrier de Provence, and La chronique de Paris.
Emancipation Declaration
On 4 February 1794 (16 Pluviôse an II), approximately a year after the demise of the Amis des Noirs, the National Convention passed the Emancipation Declaration, abolishing slavery:
La Convention Nationale déclare que l'Esclavage des Negres dans toutes les Colonies est aboli: en conséquence elle décrete que tous les hommes, sans distinction de couleur, domiciliés dans les colonies, sont Citoyens Français, et jouiront de tous les droits assurés par la Constitution. Elle renvoie au comité de salut public, pour lui faire incessamment un rapport sur les mesures a prendre pour assurer l'exécution du présent décret.
The National Convention declares that slavery of Negroes in all the Colonies is abolished; consequently it decrees that all men, without distinction of color, domiciled in the colonies are French citizens, and shall enjoy all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. The public safety committee was charged with regularly reporting on measures taken to ensure implementation of this Decree.
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