*On this date in 1794 France abolished slavery. As a nation, they had a lukewarm commitment to abolition. Under Napoleon they reestablished slavery in 1802 along with the re-institution of the "Code Noir", prohibiting blacks, Mulattoes, and other nonwhites from entering French colonial territory or intermarrying with whites.
These orders carried out by General Antoine Richepance brutally re-instituted slavery in the French Antilles in 1802. Thousands of people of color were killed in Guadeloupe alone as they fought to retain their freedom. France as a country finally ended slavery in 1848.
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