Equality and liberty have been variable conceptions in the modern period. There is not, then, one conception of equality and liberty that usefully sums up what struggles for equality and liberty since the seventeenth century have been about. One of the factors behind these changes is the state itself. The demands of ruling have required that the state extend equality and liberty beyond what would be demanded by the role they play in reproducing the economy.

Equality and liberty in the French Revolution

During the French Revolution vast changes in equality and liberty were compressed into five short years. Despite the reversals during the counterrevolution that began in 1794, these changes impressed themselves on subsequent generations either as a model to be emulated or as a tragedy to be avoided. In January of 1794, three deputies from the colony of San Domingo were given seats in the National Convention in Paris. One was a black who had been a slave, and another was a mulatto. On the day after they were seated, the ex-slave pledged blacks to the revolutionary cause and called for the abolition of slavery. Moved by his speech, the National Convention declared slavery abolished in all the colonies. The slaves on San Domingo had been in revolt since 1791, and they had already overthrown slavery there by 1794. The action of the Convention reflected not only that revolt but also the greater involvement of the Parisian masses in the Revolution after their mobilization for national defense against the forces of monarchy, within and without, in 1792.