Hello and welcome to Revolutions.

Episode 4.4.

Three Revolts

So we ended last week with the momentous vote by the National Assembly in May 1791

to grant full citizenship to free people of color who were born of two free parents.

The vote was taken at the end of an exhausting week of debate and was a last minute compromise.

And it's doubtful any of the delegates realized just how momentous this last minute compromise

would turn out to be.

And looking back at last week's show, I noticed that I very foolishly neglected to mention

the actual date the vote was taken.

The date was May 15, which is important because everyone calls it the May 15 decree.

So now you know why I am about to start calling it that.

Meanwhile, we left off in the colony in February 1791 with the execution of Hassan Oje,

and it is Oje, not Oge, thanks to listener John for the correction.

The deteriorating relationship between the whites and colors led to further arrests

of armed colors throughout the colony over the winter, and we're going to talk more

about that in a minute.

But oddly enough, it was patriotic small whites and portaprints who made the next overtly

seditious move.

People angry that the San Marcos Assembly had been suppressed.

The small white leaders plotted revenge on the royal administrators, even though the

new royal governor, a guy named Blancheland, had only arrived in the colony in October

...