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Abolitionnisme / Abolitionism ABOLITIONNISME / ABOLITIONISM On ne peut pas plus empêcher l’abolition d’avoir lieu, qu’empêcher l’année 1848 de suivre l’année 1847. (Victor Schœlcher, Histoire de l’esclavage pendant les deux dernières années, t. 1, p. 148) Cette partie de la thèse, consacrée à l’abolitionnisme en France et aux États-Unis entre 1830 et 1848, se caractérise par une démarche comparative. Dans les deux pays, des voix s’élèvent alors pour demander l’émancipation complète et immédiate des esclaves. Cependant, au-delà de cette similarité de but, on observe de nombreuses différences. Il ne s’agit pas, on l’a vu, d’analyser un abolitionnisme national indépendamment de ce qui existe dans d’autres pays, ni de proposer une recherche exhaustive visant à présenter l’abolitionnisme comme un concept applicable en tous temps et en tous lieux. Bien plutôt, on souhaite entreprendre une étude comparative entre ce qui représente, on se propose de le montrer, deux variétés nationales d’une même idéologie durant une période définie, variétés qui ont suscité des travaux historiques eux aussi fortement ancrés dans leur cadre national. Pour ce faire, on commencera par établir les termes de la comparaison en les plaçant dans leur contexte, puis on exposera la problématique de l’étude : définition du sujet et rappel de la méthode, aperçu historique et délimitation du cadre spatio-temporel, formulation des objectifs — plus détaillés que ceux qu’on vient d’énoncer. On proposera ensuite un essai historiographique sur la question, dressant l’« état des lieux » de la recherche : on verra de quelle manière les historiens de France et des États-Unis ont analysé l’abolitionnisme dans ces deux pays, ce qui permettra de mettre au jour, d’une part, des acquis (les points sur lesquels on peut appuyer de façon sûre la comparaison des sources) et, d’autre part, des lacunes ou des problèmes (ce qui fait question et que l’étude des sources devra éclaircir). Les ressemblances et les différences qu’on aura ainsi 72 identifiées entre l’abolitionnisme en France et l’abolitionnisme aux États-Unis permettront, pour finir, de tester les hypothèses qui auront été formulées, à l’aide des sources, auxquelles on appliquera une grille de lecture possédant trois entrées, à savoir les dimensions religieuse, politique et socio-économique. Contexte En 1830, l’esclavage existait toujours aux États-Unis. Certes, la traite y était abolie depuis 1807 et, par suite du vote de lois d’émancipation dans une dizaine d’États du Nord entre 1777 et 1804, l’esclavage avait disparu dans cette partie du pays. En revanche il subsistait dans tous les États du Sud, dont il était devenu l’« Institution particulière » (Peculiar Institution). L’esclavage existait toujours également dans les possessions coloniales des pays d’Europe occidentale, notamment la France et l’Angleterre. En ce qui concerne la première, notons que la Convention avait supprimé l’esclavage dans les colonies en 1794, avant que Bonaparte ne le remît en vigueur moins de dix ans plus tard. Quant à l’Angleterre, elle aussi abolit la traite tôt dans le siècle, en 1808, cependant que la France observait une position ambiguë à ce sujet jusqu’à la monarchie de Juillet, signant les traités en faveur de cette mesure mais ne se donnant guère les moyens de les appliquer. Néanmoins, l’esclavage était désormais une institution contestée. Depuis la fin du XVIIIe siècle, de part et d’autre de l’Atlantique, les prises de position en faveur d’une émancipation des esclaves s’étaient multipliées. Les premiers actes concrets vinrent confirmer cette tendance, à l’instigation de certains Quakers anglais et américains dans les pays anglophones. De même, la Société des Amis des Noirs, fondée à Paris en février 1788 par Brissot, avait compté plus d’une centaine de membres durant la Révolution, dont l’abbé Grégoire, Condorcet, La Fayette, Mirabeau, le comte de Clermont-Tonnerre ou le juriste Sonthonax. Il existait bien, dans les pays d’Europe occidentale et leurs dépendances américaines, un courant de pensée, un ensemble de vues, d’analyses, de thèses, de propositions, en un mot une idéologie qui sous-tendait les aspirations et les activités de ceux qui souhaitaient l’abolition de l’esclavage, voire travaillaient effectivement à ce qu’elle advînt. Enfin, il est important de noter que les abolitionnistes britanniques, français et américains avaient été unis, avant l’ère des guerres révolutionnaires et napoléoniennes — guerres franco-britanniques, 73 « deuxième guerre d’Indépendance » entre les États-Unis et l’Angleterre — par des liens de connaissance mutuelle 1, d’échanges2, de collaboration3. Certains historiens vont jusqu’à voir dans cette coopération naissante l’ébauche d’une véritable « internationale antiesclavagiste4 ». Cette notion, qui s’applique à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, invite à étudier toutes les formes d’interaction ayant pu exister entre abolitionnistes français et abolitionists américains de 1830 à 1848. Néanmoins, l’objectif principal est ici d’ordre comparatif : il s’agit de mettre en regard abolitionnisme et abolitionism — deux mouvements et deux variantes d’une même idéologie — durant ladite période. Soulignons d’emblée que cette comparaison prend nécessairement en compte le langage et les méthodes utilisés par les historiens qui se sont intéressés à chacun des deux phénomènes et qu’à quelques exceptions près, l’abolitionnisme américain a été étudié uniquement par des historiens américains, et son homologue français uniquement par des historiens français. Or, entre historiens américains et français, les angles d’approche et les grilles de lecture diffèrent. En conséquence, la démarche comparative se complique du fait que la comparaison des réalités historiques doit prendre en compte deux traditions historiographiques nationales. Deux exemples (on en verra maints autres par la suite) : le contraste entre le caractère très minoritaire des lectures religieuses de l’abolitionnisme en France et la prégnance des analyses américaines faisant de 1 Les abolitionnistes britanniques semblent par exemple être de « grands lecteurs d’auteurs français des Lumières […] et attentifs à la position des Quakers des États-Unis dont Antony Benezet, d’origine française, était l’un des plus écoutés. » (Nelly Schmidt, Abolitionnistes de l’esclavage et réformateurs des colonies, 1820-1851 : analyse et documents, Paris, Karthala, 2000, p. 22) 2 Ainsi, en ce qui concerne la France et les États-Unis, « les Amis des Noirs correspondaient en permanence avec leurs homologues de Londres, New York et Philadelphie » (Marcel Dorigny, préface à Patricia Motylewski, La Société française pour l’abolition de l’esclavage, 1834-1850, Paris, L’Harmattan, 1998, p. 18). Auparavant, Thomas Clarkson, en relation avec le Comité de la morale chrétienne, avait déjà entretenu des relations épistolaires avec Mirabeau. L’abbé Grégoire atteste l’existence de ces relations dans ses Mémoires, à propos de la conception de l’émancipation qu’il défend : « ainsi pensent MM. Wilberforce, Barlow, Fox, Clarkson, Thorneton, Grandville-Sharp, avec lesquels je formai des liaisons ; ainsi pensent les sociétés établies dans les États-Unis pour améliorer le sort des nègres, et qui m’envoyent annuellement les procès-verbaux de leur convention centrale à Philadelphie. » (cité dans http://www.outremer.com/~sharad/agreg/grego.html, dernière consultation le 28/01/2003) 3 Lorsque Brissot fonde la Société des Amis des Noirs à son retour à Paris après un séjour (forcé) dans la capitale anglaise, plusieurs y voient un « effet quasi immédiat de l’apparition de la société abolitionniste de Londres en mai 1787 » (N. Schmidt, Abolitionnistes de l’esclavage…, op. cit., p. 22). Le même Brissot voyagera ensuite aux États-Unis. 4 Marcel Dorigny, « Les Abolitions de l’esclavage (1793-1794-1848), une célébration nécessaire », dans Marcel Dorigny (dir.), Les Abolitions de l’esclavage : de L. F. Sonthonax à V. Schœlcher : 1793-1794-1848, Saint-Denis et Paris, Presses universitaires de Vincennes et Unesco, 1995, p. 12. 74 l’évangélisme le principal moteur de l’abolitionnisme ; ou encore, le contexte particulier du civil rights movement, favorable à la recherche américaine et sans équivalent en France. Dernière observation préliminaire — centrale en ce qui concerne cette étude tout entière : pour les historiens américains, non seulement l’abolitionnisme fait partie de ce qu’ils appellent les courants réformateurs de la période précédant la guerre de Sécession (Antebellum Reform5) mais c’en est même, aux yeux de la plupart d’entre eux, la principale composante. Autrement dit, l’abolitionnisme s’impose comme le mouvement phare, en tout cas celui qui, dès les années 1830 et plus encore à partir de 1850, tend à prendre le pas sur les autres. S’agissant de l’abolitionnisme en France, la situation n’apparaît pas symétrique. On ne saurait parler à son sujet de question véritablement prédominante dans l’état d’esprit et parmi les controverses de l’époque. Néanmoins, le début de la monarchie de Juillet voit le problème de l’esclavage prendre de l’importance dans le débat national, d’un point de vue non seulement moral, mais aussi politique et économique. Il s’inscrit pleinement dans les préoccupations philanthropiques des décennies 1830 et 1840. Sans revêtir un caractère aussi central que son homologue américain, l’abolitionnisme français peut lui être légitimement comparé. De l’étude de cette différence même, aussi bien que de l’analyse d’autres traits comparables entre abolitionnisme et abolitionism, on espère obtenir quelques lumières non seulement sur deux mouvements nationaux et deux variantes nationales d’une même idéologie, mais aussi sur deux cultures nationales. Définition du sujet L’abolitionnisme, à la fois idéologie et mouvement6 visant à la suppression de l’esclavage, ayant été constitué en objet d’étude dans le cadre général de cette recherche sur la France et les États-Unis, on peut maintenant s’intéresser à quelques problèmes de définition, d’abord, s’interroger ensuite sur des questions d’ordre méthodologique, enfin se demander pour quelle délimitation spatio- temporelle opter.
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