Code Noir, or “Edict Regarding The Government and Administration of

the French Islands of America, And the Discipline and Commerce of

Slaves in the Said Countries” was a slave code written by Minister Jean-
Baptiste Colbert (Dayan, 1998). King Louis XIV decreed Code Noir in
March 1685, and it saw use for the duration of the French colonial
states, including Louisiana. (Blackburn, 1998) (Dayan, 1998). At the
time, small groups of French colonists had already been on the island
for a few decades (Friedman, 1999). Tobacco, then sugar plantations
were steadily growing and were the final destinations for thousands of
slave expeditions ordered by the French throughout the 17th century
(Friedman, 1999). In many cases, Code noir would be interpreted to
places slaves outside the realm of law, with few ways for slaves to seek
legal refuge from abuse by their masters (Blackburn, 1998).

The French colonies would soon develop a loose hierarchy of social

status based on the class distinctions and economic distinctions of
France. White slave-owning plantation owners, as well as government
officials representing the French crown were known as grand blancs,
and had absolute control over the workings of the Saint Dominigue
(Fick,1990). Petit blancs were the name given to middle and lower
class whites, who found jobs as small business owners and tradesmen
who were often at odds with the grand blancs over economic issues
(Fick,1990). Freed blacks were known as affranchis, and were
considered inferior by white colonists rich and poor. In time, however,
the affranchis invested attained large sums of money through
investment and would come to form a large minority of property
owners in the mid18th century who were nonetheless denied political
representation (Fick,1990). In time, the increased affluence of a
minority of affranchis would be seen as a threat to slavery. Men were
required to matriculate in the military, but denied the opportunity to
practiced privileged trades (Fick,1990). Affranchis were expected to
catch runaway slaves and were often enlisted by the French
government to do so(Fick,1990). The sugar trade required large
amounts of slaves with many diverse skills. (Fick,1990).

By the mid 18th century, Saint Dominique, (the French half of Hispanola
that would eventually become Haiti) would become the most
prosperous and economically active of the French colonies, and
considerably richer than any of the other European colonies. Over
time, the economic value of slave labor to Saint Dominigue, and by
proxy continental France, came to be enormous. The centrality of Code
Noir to French commerce in the late 17th and 18th centuries cannot be
understated. Unfortunately, one of the consequences of a highly
efficient agrarian economy based on slave labor was the high death
rate among those African slaves.
Aside from the regulation of slave conduct, one of the more prevalent
themes throughout the legal code was the banishment of Jewish
people from the colonies. Code Noir reflected growing Anti-semitism in
France during the 17th century, which had already resulted in
numerous expulsions of Jewish people from continental France
(Friedman, 1999). Code Noir, which explicitly banned the practice of
any religion other than Roman Catholicism, had been preceded by
many other instances of religious discrimation against the Jews. Jewish
people in French colonies were prohibited from insulting Christians,
prohibited from conducting their own religious services (even when
African slaves were allowed to) and in the later years, forced to wear
special markings on their clothing (Friedman, 1999). Protestant
Christians were still tolerated, but their marriages were not respected
and the public practice of their religion was suppressed (Friedman,
1999).

The legal enforcement of Roman Catholic dogma had strong

consequences for the regulation of marriage and other matters relating
to sexuality. Code Noir declared all non-Catholic marriages to be null
and void, and all children born from such marriages to be bastards
(Friedman, 1999).

Pg.201
Haiti, History, and the Gods
By Joan Dayan
University of California Press, 1998

Pg. 21, 290-297

The making of New World slavery: from the Baroque to the modern,
1492-1800
Robin Blackburn
Verso, 1998

Pg. 75-83,
Jews and the American Slave Trade
Saul S. Friedman
Transaction Publishers, 1999

Pg.15-19.
The making of Haïti: the Saint Domingue revolution from below
Carolyn E. Fick
Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1990

AMERICAN MISSIONARY REGISTER: OCTOBER, 1825

VOL. VI, NO. 10