The "Trap" of Representation: Sovereignty, Slavery and the Road to the Haitian Revolution

Abstract

The decision of the planters of Saint-Domingue to seek representation in the Estates General of France was the crucial turning point in the road to the Haitian Revolution or so thought one of them, Gaspard Alexis de la Barre. Even though he could hardly have known where that road would ultimately lead, his reference to the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen of August 26, 1 789 suggests cognizance that a fundamental breach