French anti-slavery under the Restoration : the Société de la morale chrétienne

Abstract

The Société de la morale chrétienne, a Christian philanthropie society which flourished during the last décade of the Restoration, is primarily known as a group which neglected the issue of slave emancipation while helping to launch the nineteenth century movement against the French slave trade. A detailed examination of its works, however, shows that the Morale chrétienne was also the first organization of the 1800s to promote libération for France's colonial slaves. Indeed, the Société de la morale chrétienne was the predecessor of the Société française pour l'abolition de l'esclavage, a body to which it transferred its leadership, tactics, and program.