s apart from the black slaves. Especially in the North, the continuing importation of slaves from Africa meant that they kept more distinctly African cultural traditions.
Revolution (1791)
Inspired by the French Revolution of 1789 and principles of the rights of men, free people of colour and slaves in Saint-Domingue and the French and West Indies pressed for freedom and more civil rights. Most important was the revolution of the slaves in Saint-Domingue, starting in the northern plains in 1791, where Africans greatly outnumbered the whites. They massacred many planters and other whites, and thousands of refugees fled from Saint-Domingue through the next years, settling in United States cities of New York, Philadelphia, Charlestown and New Orleans. In 1792, the French government sent three commissioners with troops to reestablish control. They began to build an alliance with the free people of colour who wanted more civil rights. In 1793, France and Great Britain went to war, and British troops invaded Saint-Domingue. The execution of Louis XVI heightened tensions in the colony, and refugees continued to leave. That year, 2,000 refugees emigrated to Philadelphia, where they were nearly 5% of the city's population.
To build an alliance with the gens de couleur and slaves, the French commissioners Sonthonax and Polverel abolished slavery in the colony. Six months later, the National Convention, led by Robespierre and the Jacobins, endorsed abolition and extended it to all the French colonies.
Toussaint Louverture, a former slave and leader in the slave revolt—a man who rose in importance as a military commander because of his many skills—achieved peace in 1794 in Saint-Domingue after years of war against both external invaders and internal dissension. Having established a disciplined, flexible army, Louverture drove out not only the Spanish (from Santo Domingo) but also the British invaders who threatened the colony. He restored
