History Primary Sources

The Code Noir (1685)

• Issued by Louis XIV to regulate slavery in French colonies

• Reflected absolutism and Catholic control before Enlightenment ideals

• Mixed relationships (free men + enslaved women) were fined unless they were married in a church -> then the women and children become free

• Preserve racial and class hierarchy

• Slaves = property

• Families couldn't be sold separately (not always enforced)

The Grand Instructions to the Commissioners Appointed to Frame a New Code of Laws for the Russian Empire (1767)

• Author Catherine II (“the great”), empress of russia

  • Guide Russian reform laws - Russia is an absolute monarchy but Catherine wanted it to be rational and enlightened

• Declares Russia as a European state

• Defends absolute monarchy (empire with one strong ruler)

  • Basically Catherine tried to merge enlightenment with absolute monarchy

• Torture is violation of nature and reason

• Doesn’t support slavery except in rare cases

Adam Smith, “On the Division of Labour,” in The Wealth of Nations (1776)

• Scottish 

• Division of labor drives economic growth

• Focuses on early industrialization in Britain

• Effects of the division of labor

  • Workers become more skilled and faster when repeating a single task

  • Workers avoid delays from switching tasks/tools or moving between different jobs

  • Specialization encourages innovation and machinery

• A “rude” society: one person does many jobs; an "improved" one: each person does one

Open letter from Yorkshire Wool Workers (1786)

• Issued by Leeds textile merchants in response to protests from workers

• Pro-machinary argument 

  • National economic interest

  • Earlier innovations faced similar opposition but later improved industry

Proclamation of the cloth merchants of leeds (1791)

• Issued by Leeds textile merchants in response to protests from workers

• Pro-machinary argument 

  • National economic interest

  • Earlier innovations faced similar opposition but later improved industry

• Promises preference for local workers who don’t resist mechanization

Hannah More, Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799)

• Written by Hannah More

• Written during post-French Revolution ideological backlash

  • Anti-Womens rights

  • Argues that women should remain in the domestic sphere assigned by god

  • Christian moral frameworks

  • Aligned with Conservatism and rejects enlightenment/feminism

The Haitian Declaration of Independence (1804)

• Written by Jean Jacques Dessalines, a former enslaved man and revolutionary leader

• Main goals

  • Permanent independence

  • Reject France completely

  • End enslavement

• Peace for Haiti