Person
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax
Léger-Félicité Sonthonax was a French politician and colonial administrator who, as Civil Commissioner in Saint-Domingue during the Haitian Revolution, proclaimed the freedom of all slaves in its north province on 29 August 1793. A lawyer from Oyonnax and a member of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, he was sent to the colony in 1792 with Étienne Polverel to enforce equal rights for free people of colour, not to end slavery. The National Convention ratified emancipation on 4 February 1794, applying it to all French colonies. Acquitted in France in 1795, he returned to Saint-Domingue, but Toussaint Louverture sent him back to France in 1797; he died in Oyonnax in 1813.
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- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Léger-Félicité Sonthonax. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/leger-felicite-sonthonax
- MLA
- “Léger-Félicité Sonthonax.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/leger-felicite-sonthonax. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Léger-Félicité Sonthonax.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/leger-felicite-sonthonax.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Léger-Félicité Sonthonax’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/leger-felicite-sonthonax (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻