2 The impact of the French Revolution
The French Revolution soon exacerbated existing divisions within colonial society. The gens de couleur, with some backing from reformers in Paris, argued that the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789 meant all free men should enjoy equal rights. These demands aroused the fury of many white colonists, and particularly that of the petits blancs, some of whom saw their status as under threat.
Tensions broke out in the colony: a revolt led by one of the leaders of the gens de couleur, Vincent Ogé, was defeated in February 1791 and Ogé was tortured and executed. Later in 1791, following a decision by the French National Assembly to grant citizenship to free men of colour, open fighting started between armed groups of white and mixed-race people.