“This regime is going to be changed; a new order of things will be born, and the old slavery will disappear. Yet do not think that the liberty that you will enjoy means laziness and inactivity……..you will no longer suffer the humiliating punishments previously inflicted upon you. You will be your own master and live contended.” (122)
Leger Sonthonax and Etienne Polverel were sent to Saint-Domingue to prepare the general emancipation of the slaves. Slaves were treated terribly by their owners, and change was needed. In this quote the two men say that everyone is free, everyone will be paid for work, everyone can be their normal self, and everyone can finally be happy. Of course Kings most probably wouldn’t like this as they are only content when they are around slaves. People need to be treated equally. Color should have nothing to do with your Social class order. All African Americans who are currently in slavery are free to now do what they want, as they are now a regular French citizen. The fact that slaves were treated so terribly, had so much work, and were not even paid is just so sad. These people deserve to be paid and finally they will be getting paid for their hard work. In this quote Sonthonax also says that just because you are free doesn’t mean you should be lazy and inactive, you should continue to work hard, and for this you will be rewarded. The African Americans never did anything to harm anyone and they did not deserve to be enslaved just because of their color. This is the change that they have been waiting for for a while, a change that they deserve. If someone hurts their worker they will be fined and possibly lose their salary. These new laws are a big change for all the citizens, some may not like these changes, but these changes needed to happen.
I agree with your quotation because it sums up the importance of both texts as a need to give rights to all men. Now that colored men had rights , it was clearly stated that you are not free from work, now they must work to maintain their family, themselves, and any wants. They both insisted to not become lazy because as stated by Sonthonax, “by including you on her side, she has truly increased her capacities and resources” , this meant that now officially being part of this nation meant more people to help prosper. Although being told to be employed, they also emphasized that they are now free men, they don’t have to work everyday, that is on them, and with that being said they hold their own fate. To add more on how logical it would be to keep working they mentioned how all property owners would only hire those who they wanted so if they are not willing to work more than they want, they won’t be employed by them. What caught my eye was that the rules for these rights said that if women or man were to be unemployed after the fifteenth day after the publication was done they shall be arrested, and the time to do only increased after each arrest. I don’t understand how now they are forcing people to work but most of all the practical job they had any opportunity was to work on the fields. This meant that they were once again under control because no one wants to do time in a cell.