" The slave-trade and slavery were the economic basis of the French Revolution. ‘Sad irony of human history,’ comments Jaurès. ‘The fortunes created at Bordeaux, at Nantes, by the slave-trade, gave to the bourgeoisie that pride which needed liberty and contributed to human emancipation. "

― C.L.R. James , The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution