J P Brissot de Warville MEMOIRE SUR LES NOIRS DE L AMERIQUE SEPTENTRIONALE LU A L ASSEMBLEE DE LA SOCIETE DES AMIS DES NOIRS LE 9 FEVRIER 1789 20 December 1789 Antique Abolitionists Slavery North America Anti-Slavery Literature Politics Jacques Pierre Brissot Girondins

b>Title: Memoire sur les Noirs de l'Amerique Septentrionale. Lu a l'Assemblee de la Societe des Amis des Noirs, le 9 Fevrier 1789
Author: J. P. Brissot de Warville - Jacques Pierre Brissot, who assumed the name of de Warville, was a leading member of the Girondist movement during the French Revolution. Some sources give his name as Jean Pierre Brissot.

Brissot was born at Chartres, where his father was an inn-keeper. He received an education, and entered the office of a lawyer at Paris. He married Felicite Dupont (1759–1818), who translated English works, including Oliver Goldsmith and Robert Dodsley. They lived in London, and had three children. His first works, "Theorie des lois criminelles" (1781) and "Bibliotheque philosophique du legislateur" (1782), dealt with philosophy of law topics, and showed the deep influence of ethical precepts theoretised by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. In the preface of "Theorie des lois criminelles," Brissot explains that he submitted an outline of the book to Voltaire and quotes his answer from 13 April 1778.
Brissot became known as a writer, and was engaged on the Mercure de France, on the Courrier de l'Europe, and on other papers. Devoted to the cause of humanity, he proposed a plan for the collaboration of all European intellectuals, and started in London a paper, Journal du Lycee de Londres, which was to be the organ of their views. The plan was unsuccessful, and soon after his return to Paris Brissot was placed in the Bastille on the charge of having published a work against the government.
He obtained his release after four months, and again devoted himself to pamphleteering, but was forced to retire for a time to London. On this second visit he became acquainted with some of the leading Abolitionists, and founded later in Paris an anti-slavery group Society of the Friends of the Blacks, of which he was president during 1790 and 1791. As an agent of this society he paid a visit to the United States in 1788, and subsequently published in 1791 his "Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats-Unis de l'Amerique septentrionale" (3 vols.). Brissot believed that American ideals could help improve French government. At one point he was interested in uprooting his family to America. Thomas Jefferson, ambassador in Paris at the time was familiar enough with him to note,"Warville is returned charmed with our country. He is going to carry his wife and children to settle there." Although for Brissot, such an emigration never happened. The rising ferment of revolution sucked him back into schemes for progress through political journalism that would consequently make him a household name.
From the outbreak of the Revolution in 1789, Brissot became one of its most vocal supporters. He edited the Patriote français from 1789 to 1793, and took a prominent part in politics. Famous for his speeches at the Jacobin Club, he was elected a member of the municipality of Paris, then of the Legislative Assembly, and later of the National Convention. Shortly thereafter, Brissot began to align himself with the more right-leaning Girondins who were often viewed as the 'war party.'

Publisher: Au Bureau du Patriote Francais
City: Paris
Year: 1789
Binding Style: Other - see description
Pagination: 56 pages
Width: 4.75" Height: 7.75"
Book Details: This antique disbound French title translates as: “Memorial on the Blacks of North America. At the assembly of the Society of the Friends of the Blacks, February 9, 1789. By J. P. Brissot de Warville, President of the Society of the Friends of Blacks of Paris; Honorary member of the societies established for the abolition of the slave trade and slavery of Blacks in Philadelphia, New York, and London, and one of the representatives of the Paris Commune.†This volume was published in Paris by the Bureau du Patriote Francais, 20 December 1789.

The Society of the Friends of the Blacks (Société des amis des Noirs or Amis des noirs) was a group of French men and women, mostly white, who were abolitionists. They opposed slavery, which was institutionalized in the French colonies of the Caribbean and North America, and the African slave trade. The Society was created in Paris in 1788, and operated until 1793, during years of the French Revolution. It was led by Jacques Pierre Brissot, with advice from British Thomas Clarkson, who led the abolitionist movement in the Kingdom of Great Britain. At the beginning of 1789, the Society had 141 members.

During the five-year period that it operated, it published anti-slavery literature and frequently addressed its concerns on a substantive political level in the National Assembly of France. In February 1794, the National Assembly passed the Universal Emancipation decree, which effectively freed all colonial slaves and gave them equal rights. This decision was later reversed under Napoleon, who tried unsuccessfully to re-institute slavery in the colonies and to regain control of Saint-Domingue, where a slave rebellion was underway.

Several articles and monographs have explored the question of how influential the Society was in bringing about the abolition of slavery. Historians disagree about their influence, with some crediting the Amis des Noirs as instrumental in abolition, to others who say the Society was nothing more than a "société de pensée" (philosophical society).
Condition / Notes: This antique title is disbound and the text block is partially cracked. Text is clear and legible through mild/moderate age toning and some moisture markings.

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