Étienne Polverel

Étienne Polverel (1740–1795) was a French lawyer, aristocrat, and revolutionary. He was a member of the Jacobin club. In 1792, he and Léger Félicité Sonthonax were sent to Saint-Domingue to suppress the slave revolt and to implement the decree of 4 April 1792, that gave equality of rights to all free men, regardless of their color.

Although Polverel and Sonthonax were abolitionists, they had no intention of abolishing slavery when they arrived in September in the colony, and they had not received the right to do so. To preserve the colony for France, however, they were forced to give freedom to the Blacks slaves who would fight on their side. Under pressure, between 27 August and 31 October 1793, they progressively gave freedom to all the slaves of Saint-Domingue.

Being from Brissot's orbit, on 16 July 1793, they were recalled by an upheld recall order by the Committee of Public Safety. It took until June of the following year for a ship to bring them back to France. They arrived in France in the time of the downfall of Robespierre and the Thermidorian Reaction. They were tried that winter, being acquitted of the charges the white colonial lobby had brought against them. Polverel did not survive to see the ruling, passing away during the trial.