  In Chapter Two, Cooper describes the formation of “The American Colonists”—a committee of colored men organized by “the elder Raimond, Jacques and Vincent Ogé” (SFHR, 59). They sought the admission of a deputy to represent them in the Constituent Assembly and demanded “the absolute equality of colored men and free Negroes with white colonists” (SFHR, 60). This reopened debates about the problem of equality of the races in the colonies and raised “A graver question, that of the abolition of the trade and slavery” (SFHR, 60). In addition to considering the “fate of the blacks” there are also the other events of the Revolution in France including Bastille, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, and the height of the reign of terror, (SFHR, 61). Cooper asserts, “It is certain that if the whites had adopted a more conciliatory attitude toward the free mulattos many disasters could have been avoided” (SFHR, 63). But the colonist joined forces with the Massiac Club to prevent the emancipation of slaves and to establish a force in the colonies that could resist any legislation against slavery. The result was, in part, the establishment of a Colonial Committee that would centralize colonial questions in the hands of a few and remove them from the Friends of the Blacks, (SFHR, 65). Cooper is clear that financial concerns outweighed ideals about freedom and racial equality. She argues that the establishment of this Colonial Committee was indicative of the necessity to “slow down a revolutionary moment menacing the whole of the West Indies” coupled with a desire to protect the financial interests and national wealth of France insofar as “trade with Santo Domingo represented two thirds of the total trade of France” (SFHR, 66).