Débats de la commission des colonies

The metropolitan proceedings through which Sonthonax, Polverel, and their opponents argued over Saint-Domingue before French political authorities during and after the commissioner period. The proceedings preserve the commissioners' retrospective self-justifications for the May 5, 1793 proclamation and the June 1793 emancipation offer, alongside planter accusations and republican defenses, making them one of the best sources for the political psychology of the emancipation sequence. Cited extensively by Ardouin, the Débats must be handled critically as a metropolitan forum shaped by conditions of accusation, defense, and political repositioning rather than a transparent record of events.