vowed a vow, an awful vow, that so long as I breathed
the vital air, never, no, never again, would I attempt to drive a
Georgia mule.

HAYTI AND TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE

W. E. B. DUBOIS

It was in the island of Hayti that French slavery centered. Pirates from
many nations, but chiefly French, began to frequent the island, and in
1663 the French annexed the eastern part, thus dividing the island
between France and Spain. By 1680 there were so many slaves and
mulattoes that Louis XIV issued his celebrated Code Noir, which was
notable in compelling bachelor masters, fathers of slave children, to
marry their concubines. Children followed the condition of the mother as
to slavery or freedom; they could have no property; harsh punishments
were provided for, but families could not be separated by sale except in
the case of grown children; emancipation with full civil rights was made
possible for any slave twenty years of age or more. When Louisiana was
settled and the Alabama coast, slaves were introduced there. Louisiana
was transferred to Spain in 1762, against the resistance of both
settlers and slaves, but Spain took possession in 1769 and introduced
more Negroes.

Later, in Hayti, a more liberal policy encouraged trade; war was over
and capital and slaves poured in. Sugar, coffee, chocolate, indigo,
dyes, and spices were raised. There were large numbers of mulattoes,
many of whom were educated in France, and many masters married Negro
women who had inherited large properties, just as in the United States
to-day white men are marrying eagerly the landed Indian women in the
West. When white immigration increased in 1749, however, prejudice arose
against these mulattoes and severe laws were passed depriving them of
civil rights, entrance into the professions, and the right to hold
office; severe edicts were enforced as to clothing, names, and social
intercourse. Finally, after 1777, mulattoes were forbidden to come to
France.

When the French Revolution broke out, the Haytians managed to send two
delegates to Paris. Nevertheless the planters maintained the upper hand,
and one of the colored delegates, Oge, on returning, started a small
rebellion. He and his companions were killed with great brutality. This
led the French government to grant full civil rights to free Negroes.
Immediately planters and free Negroes flew to arms against each other
and then, suddenly, August 22, 1791, the black slaves, of whom there