How did the general emancipation of slaves take place in 1848 in the French colonies? How did the colonial administration, the Church and the colonists manage to maintain their hegemony, to exercise their political, economic and spiritual domination? How did the new citizens face a period of transition that stretches from the destruction of the slave system to the first effects of French-style colonization based on military occupation? How was freedom assassinated, in these colonies doomed to dependence?