Also known as: Jeremy D. Popkin, You Are All Free, You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery
Last updated: April 16, 2026
The definitive account of how abolition in Saint-Domingue emerged from political and military crisis rather than from abstract benevolence, centered on the June 20–21, 1793 crisis at Cap-François: the commissioners under attack, the white-sailor revolt around Thomas François Galbaud, the destruction of the colonial capital, and Sonthonax's first offer of freedom to Black fighters. Popkin reconstructs how a contingent military emergency produced the first emancipation decree — and how that local act eventually became the February 1794 French National Convention decree abolishing slavery across all French colonies.
Popkin's You Are All Free is the strongest secondary source on Galbaud's role in the June 1793 crisis — documenting the revolt, the burning of Cap-Français, and the chain of events from his defeat to the first emancipation offer.
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Jeremy D. Popkin. "You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery." Cambridge University Press, 2010. Rasin.ai, https://rasin.ai/connections/sources/popkin-you-are-free. Accessed 2026-05-05.