À l'origine de la théorie physiocratique du capitalisme, la plantation esclavagiste L'expérience de Le Mercier de la Rivière, intendant de la Martinique

Abstract

A study of some little-known writings of Le Mercier de la Rivière should enable us to define the nature of his experiences, first as a planter, and subsequently as intendant of La Martinique, from 1759 to 1764. A reappraisal of his book, L’ordre naturel et essentiel des sociétés politiques (1767), in the light of his experience of the slave and segregationist colonies of America sheds new light on his physiocratic theory of capitalism and on the genesis of concepts as central as those of legal despotism, physical liberty and chattel property, the latter being considered in relation to an unexpected source, the 1685 Code Noir.