Földvári Books

The First General Abolition of Slavery – The First Official Printing

[Décret d'abolition de l'esclavage du 4 février 1794] [Law of 4 February 1794] Décret de la Convention Nationale, Du 16.e jour de Pluviôse, an 2.e de la République Française, une & indivisible, Qui abolit l'Esclavage des Nègres dans les Colonies. N.º 2262.

A Paris: de l’Imprimerie Nationale Exécutive du Louvre, An II.e de la République [1794]. First edition printed in Paris. Published unbound. 2 [2 (blank)] p. Contemporary registration note in ink on the title page. Paper toned with age. Small wormholes at the gutter and lower margin, not affecting the text. Small closed tear and minor edge chipping. Untrimmed. Folded once. Overall in very good condition.

The first official printing of the Law of 4 February 1794, the decree enacting the first general abolition of slavery in the modern world.

This historic document, enacted by Revolutionary France on February 4, 1794, marks a defining moment in the history of human rights: the abolition of slavery throughout the French colonies. Issued by the National Convention, the decree declares that slavery is abolished in all French possessions and that all men, regardless of color, are French citizens entitled to the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.

The decree emerged from the growing anti-slavery movement in France, shaped by the efforts of abolitionists such as Abbé Grégoire and by the Haitian Revolution, whose military and political developments forced the question of slavery onto the agenda of the National Convention. In 1793, the French commissioner in Saint-Domingue, Léger-Félicité Sonthonax, proclaimed the abolition of slavery there, a measure that the National Convention ratified and extended to all French colonies on 4 February 1794.

Despite strong political and economic opposition, the decree was adopted, marking a fundamental change in French colonial policy. The victory proved temporary. In 1802 Napoleon restored slavery in the French colonies, reversing the legislation of 1794. Only in 1848 was slavery definitively abolished throughout the French Empire. In the meantime, the Haitian Revolution culminated in Haiti’s independence in 1804, permanently ending slavery within the first independent Black republic.

The Law of 4 February 1794 was the first legislative abolition of slavery enacted on a national scale by a modern state. As such, it occupies a central place in the history of abolition and of modern human rights, establishing a precedent that would influence later emancipation movements far beyond France.

Following its adoption by the National Convention, the decree was first printed by the Imprimerie Nationale Exécutive du Louvre in Paris as Décret no. 2262. It was then rapidly reprinted in provincial cities including Marseille, Lille, Avignon, Dijon, Grenoble, Limoges, Auxerre, and, later, Laon, ensuring its swift dissemination throughout France.

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Price: €7,000.00