On 3 March, '48, he was made Under Secretary of the Navy, and caused a decree to be issued by the Provisional Government Enfranchising all slaves on French territory.
"A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations"
Joseph Mazzini Wheeler
It cannot be denied that this is taking a good deal of trouble for a very small and not very useful portion of the population of the country: and it is not to be wondered at that many citizens, and not a few Congressmen, are much disposed to cut the knot instead of untying it, and summarily dismiss the Indian as the subject of peculiar consideration, by Enfranchising him, not for any good it may do to him, but for the relief of our legislation.
"The Indian Question (1874)"
Francis A. Walker
The Enfranchising the port of Honfleur at the mouth of the Seine, for multiplying the connections with us, is at present an object.
"Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson"
Thomas Jefferson