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[SEGREGATIONNISME] Circulaire condamnant les mariages mixtes

S.n., Angoulême 30 Nivôse an XI de la République [20 janvier 1803], in-4 (18,5x24cm), une page imprimée sur un double feuillet.

[SEGREGATIONISM] Circular forbidding mixed-race marriages
n.n., Angoulême 30 Nivôse an XI de la République [20 January 1803], 4to (18,5x24cm), a printed page on a double sheet.

First edition of this circular from the Prefect of the department of Charente addressed to the city mayors and deputy mayors: “I hasten to inform you, citizens, that the intention of the Government is that no marriage act be received between Whites and Negresses, nor between Negroes and Whites; you will please comply with this provision that the Grand Judge, Minister of Justice, transmitted to me by his letter of the 18th of this month, and acknowledge receipt of the present letter. Greetings. Bonnaire.” Some light foxing.
After a first abolition of slavery during the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte re-established it in 1802 by repealing the decree of February 4, 1794: “Napoleonic colonial legislation, largely obsessed by the fear of miscegenation (circular of 18 Nivôse year XI – 8 January 1803 – which forbids marriages between Blacks and Whites in metropolitan France while tolerating those between Whites and mixed-race), is tightening the restrictions and racial laws in place during the French monarchy. A decree from 9 Prairial an X (29 May 1802) removed from duty every officer, non-commissioned officer, and soldier of color in Paris. Another decree from 6 Messidor X (25 June-1802) forbade access to the mainland to Blacks and people of mixed race, unless exceptional authorization. The free people of color were both targets and assets in this segregationist system: emancipations between 1789 and 1794 were annulled, and the frequent mixed marriages in the colonies during the monarchy were prohibited under Napoleonic rule.” (“Napoleon and the Restoration of Slavery” in Les Notes de la FME [Foundation for the Memory of Slavery] # 2, April 2021).

Very rare.
 

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