The Hanging of Angelique

The Hanging of angelica, The Untold study of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal, written by Afua repair, is the news report of not just Marie-Joseph Angelique, a black buckle down in eighteenth century Montreal accuse, tried and hanged for arson, but gives insight into the entire African buckle down trade and brings to the forefront the thousands of African slaves here in Canada, a point that has been bulldozed and ploughed over (P 7)1, while we ridicule our southern neighbours for their involvement in the very same industry.It is also a useful tool in the study of everyday life during this time period in reinvigorated France, including their personal interactions, economic pillars, cultural beliefs, and over in all in all companionable structure. Dr. Afua Cooper is a leading authority on Canadian black history and thrall she has devoted her life to uncovering the past and educating the public on the microscopic known subject of black slaveholding in Canadia n history.She is a renowned presenter, scholar, poet, and author, having published five books of poetry, and several books both historic and historical fiction2 in her efforts to bring to light Canadas sorry history of slavery and racism (P XII)1. She is cur bloodly the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair in Womens Studies at Simon Fraser University, British Columbia2.Fifteen long time of research went into the telling of Angeliques story, using a variety of methods including court and line of credit records, including Angeliques trial transcripts, newspapers containing advertisements for the purchase and sale of slaves (P 97)1 and other histories of slavery. It is these m whatsoever details that Dr. Cooper has included that helps the reader to become immersed in the story. From the haunting description of la question ordinaire et extrodinaire (P 17-19)1, the rise and fall of Portugal as a maritime great power (P 24)1 , and the descriptions of the city and buildings that were destroy ed so easily (P 142-3)1.She tells the story of not simply Marie-Joseph Angelique, but of all people in spick-and-span France including both blackness and Indian slaves, indentured labourers, and those of the higher formes. Angeliques owners, Francois Poulin de Francheville and his wife, Therese de Couagne belonged to a mixer grade referred to as bourgeois, a social class of middle standbetween the aristocracy and the lower classes (P 107)1. Their business was commerce, virtually notably, the lifeblood of the colony, the pelt trade.Francois, and many others, prospered from the fur trade, it was, in fact, the main economy of the colonies at the time. non only for the actual voyageurs and merchants, but the supplies needed for the outposts, goods to trade with the natives (especially alcohol), and transportation of these goods to the merchandise posts. Without support from Montreal, none of the posts would have been able to survive. The fur trade was an native part of life in New France, not only to those straightway related, it affected everyone. The trade was the pivot upon which most other af funfairs, especially politics, religion, and war, spun. Politicians and priests, Natives and French, merchants and voyageurs, soldiers and kings, architects and engineers all had careers made, enhanced, or unmade by the fur trade (P 115)1. Another restraint between the rich and poor keeping the class divisions separate was the Seigneurial system, of which Angeliques owner was a part.An upper class man were granted land by the acme, and then was rented to others to work it, all the while paying the Seigneur rent and paying for the use of his mill. Only a Seigneur could own the mill, and all of the natural resources on said land, including fish, timber, or valuable metal deposits, belonged him as well. Francois Poulin de Francheville happened to be Seigneur for a plot of land about 15 acres outside of Montreal, which just happened to be rich in iron deposi ts.In an effort to diversify the colonys economy, he obtained a twenty-year monopoly from the crown to mine the iron in the Trois-Rivieres area (P 121)1. Francheville continued to support the fur trade, still the pivot of life in the colonies by selling make goods such(prenominal) as sewing needles, cookware, and stoves, but the majority of the steel was used by France for shipbuilding and military equipment. Montreal was no longer economically hooked on the fur trade.Among the classes of New France, Angelique was at the very bottom, separate on three fronts. Not only was she a slave, but she was a black female slave. After the black slaves were the Indian slaves, or Panis (P 81)1, forgo blacks, indentured labourers, and then the traders, bourgeois, and Nobles that made up the high society. Though the class structure was quite rigid, there was room for movement in the ranks. Angelique was romantically involved with Claude Thibault, an indentured labourer in the same crime syndi cate as herself.Though Claude was not a slave, he was contracted for three years and was paid for the work he did, he wished to escape the colonies and return to France. The fit did escape once, but were caught, and he was believed to be Angeliques assistant in setting the fire. As those in lower classes mingled and formed bonds, so too did the middle and higher classes, though for diametric reasons. Francois Poulin de Francheville was a social climber, and in order to expand his social circle, he married the female child of a very influential and rich Montreal merchant, Therese de Couagne.Where Angelique and Claude had shared thwarting and humiliation of serving others, the marriage of Francois and Therese was a mutually beneficial accord mostly due to money and family connections. Though Patriarchy was the dominant political theory at the time, snow-clad women still had some freedom. Black slave women were advertise for sale usually as house servants, the ability to cook, clean, and do mansion chores were the selling points. They were seen as not being able to do any more than such duties.When her husband died, however, Therese de Couagne, being a high class white woman, took full control of all of her husbands business dealings and they flourished. Not only were men seen as better than women, white women were more capable than black. Legal procedure when prosecuting Marie-Joseph Angelique was shockingly different to that which is practiced today. Pierre Raimbault, Angeliques prosecutor, gathered evidence and active the case against Angelique. The evidence against her was strong, several witnesses testified against her, and she had motive, being a mistreated and savage slave.She was found guilty by the judge, who was not entirely impartial because he, like many others, had lost most of his possessions in the fire. Her sentence was to be condemned to make honourable amends, and to have her hand cut off, and that she be thrown living into the fir e in a place in this town deemed most appropriate, after having been subjected to la question ordinaire et extraordinaire in order that she name her accomplices and that the idea of the one named Thibault be delayed until the said accused has suffered such doubt (P 254)1.Angeliques punishment was appealed, and downgraded, but such brutal punishments were quite rough-cut in European societies, carried out on perpetrators of such crimes believed despicable, others included burned-over alive, boiled, quartered, covered in hot oil or tar (P 255)1. La question ordinaire et extraordinaire was, indeed, torture. The judge not only wanted a justification from Angelique, he wanted her to name her former lover, Thibault, as her accomplice, so that he too could be executed.Once again, not exactly promising for a fair and unbiased trial. Afua Coopers The Hanging of Angelique, The Untold Story of Canadian Slavery and the Burning of Old Montreal not only shows an overview of the African slave trade and its beginnings, the overall social structure, cultural beliefs and economic backbone of New France, but she also succeeds in showing the indomitable nature of the homo spirit by showing no matter how subaltern freedom she has, Angelique still finds ways to rebel.It shows the class distinctions that ruled peoples lives in the 18th century Canada that no longer exist to such an extent, the way they lived, whether by the fur trade, or farming, or as a government official. It is a great example of how Canada has grown from small colonies with little to no economic diversity, and rigid class structure ruled by societal pressure where slaves were a sign of prestige, to a multicultural unquestionable country today.