Law of 20 May 1802

The French Law of 20 May 1802 was passed that day (30 floréal year X), revoking the Law of 4 February 1794 (16 pluviôse) which had abolished slavery in all the French colonies. However, the 1794 decree was only implemented in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and Guiana, did not take effect in Mauritius, Reunion and Martinique, the last of which had been captured by the British and thus was unaffected by the 1794 French abolition law.[1]

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The colonial administration on Réunion hindered its implementation, while the one on Martinique refused to ratify it due to a royalist insurrection there, similar to that in the Vendée, which had been in revolt since 16 September 1793 and had, represented by planter Louis-François Dubuc, signed the Whitehall accord with the British government. On 6 February 1794, the British began their capture of Martinique and established full control over the island on 21 March 1794, and thus the territory remained unaffected by the 1794 decree.

The Law of 20 May 1802, a variation of the Napoleonic Code, had the express purpose of restoring slavery in Saint-Domingue, Guadeloupe and French Guiana, and was passed when Napoleon turned his attention to the French colonies in the peace that followed the 1802 Treaty of Amiens, which also restored Martinique to France. Napoleon's attempts to restore slavery in Saint-Domingue proved futile.[2][3] This law united opposition to Napoleon's brother-in-law, 1802 general Leclerc (commander of the Saint-Domingue expedition), who failed in his attempts to restore slavery to Saint-Domingue.[4][5]